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GORGOROTH Trial Update: Witness List Revealed

February 4, 2009

The two-day trial over the rights to the GORGOROTH band name involving vocalist Gaahl, bassist King ov Hell and the group's estranged guitarist Infernus was held January 28-30 in Oslo, Norway.

Infernus (real name: Roger Tiegs) filed a lawsuit against King ov Hell (real name: Tom Cato Visnes) in September 2008 claiming that King (the sixth bass player in GORGOROTH's history) went behind his back in September 2007 and secretly applied for trademark protection of the GORGOROTH bandname and logo, which Infernus had been using since 1992.

The witnesses that testified in court — besides Infernus, Gaahl and King Ov Hell themselves — were as follows:

* Torgrim Øyre (former GORGOROTH member, booking manager at Hole In The Sky Festival)
* Anders Odden (ex-CELTIC FROST, CADAVER INC.)
* Tormentor (former GORGOROTH member, now member of the Infernus lineup)
* Espen Solheim Røhne (Norwegian distributor Indie Distribution, who has sided with Gaahl and King Ov Hell)
* Per Gyllenbäck (Regain Records, who has sided with Infernus)
* Asbjørn Slettemark (from Norwegian music industry magazine Faro Journalen)
* Gro Narvestad (Inferno Festival)

The ruling is expected in late February.

In a recent interview with Hungary's Fémforgács webzine (conducted last month),Infernus stated about the legal battle between him and his former bandmates, "I do not consider it as a war. It was basically King ov Hell who went behind my back and, in September 2007, secretly applied for a trademark ownership of the band name and logo at the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. Thereafter they have been commercially exploiting the name for whatever it was worth. Now I am suing him, and the vocalist as well. Whatever reasons they might have had to do what they did is to me of complete irrelevance. If they were not happy working together with me, they could have gone and started their own band, easy as that. . . I don't care what they have to say. They for sure have had their time in the media lately. And they will be having a chance to repeat that in court."

Read the entire interview from Fémforgács.

(Thanks: Asbjørn Slettemark)

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