According to the New York Post, Ozzy Osbourne
has filed a lawsuit against his BLACK SABBATH bandmate Tony Iommi, claiming that Iommi illegally took sole ownership of the band's name in a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Osbourne is suing Iommi for a 50 percent interest in the "Black Sabbath" trademark, along with a portion of Iommi's profits from use of the name.
The Manhattan federal court suit also charges that Osbourne's "signature lead vocals" are largely responsible for the band's "extraordinary success," noting that its popularity plummeted during his absence from 1980 through 1996.
Ozzy's suit follows one filed by Iommi in December 2008 against Live Nation. In that filing, Iommi claims the concert giant sold merchandise bearing the band's logo, despite the 2006 expiration of a merchandising deal, reportedly worth nearly $80 million. Soon after that agreement concluded, Iommi reclaimed the band's trademark.
Iommi's suit argues Live Nation continued to sell more than 100 items of merchandise featuring the band's likeness, name and logo, despite the receipt of cease-and-desist orders from the guitarist's camp. Iommi's suit seeks damages in the amount of three times the profits from the merchandise sales, plus a halt to the BLACK SABBATH product sales.
Iommi and Geezer Butler have both said some less than kind things about working with Osbourne in a new interview with Decibel magazine. The pair recently completed a new studio album as HEAVEN & HELL, the post-Ozzy version of SABBATH featuring vocalist Ronnie James Dio, and Butler said that working with Dio was much easier than Osbourne. He explained, "Ronnie's a songwriter in his own right - he's got tons of ideas. Whereas Ozzy . . . in the old days, he'd come up with a vocal line and I'd write the lyrics. Ronnie is 100 percent involved in both the musical side and the vocal side, and he writes his own lyrics as well."
Butler added that Osbourne didn't take him seriously as a songwriter, saying, "If we were with Ozzy and I came in with the killer riff of all time, Ozzy wouldn't even think of doing it because I'm not the guitarist and that's the way he thinks . . . That's why it was so bloody hard to write anything."
Butler said about HEAVEN & HELL's debut CD, "The Devil You Know", "If we'd written this album with Ozzy, we'd still be working on the first track."
Iommi added that there was a sharp difference between the singers live as well, saying, "It was great being with Ozzy on the road . . . but with Ronnie it's a lot different, because we go out and we know exactly what we're gonna be doing. With Ozzy, we didn't really know. It was touch and go sometimes on some of those early shows, whether he was gonna turn up, if he'd be able to sing, if his voice was gone, or what. We'd have to cancel shows, which Geezer and myself really hated. But with Ronnie, we've never canceled a show."
HEAVEN & HELL will tour Europe later this spring and summer, with North American dates scheduled for August.
Ozzy Osbourne is currently working on his next solo album.
I have absolutely no respect for Ozzy anymore, to pull this bull****. Besides, Tony>Ozzy (I listen to Sabbath for the music, not Ozzy's singing. Besides, Ronnie James Dio was a FAR superior vocalist to Ozzy anyway. Sue me for liking Dio Sabbath over Ozzy Sabbath, etc.)
Seriously, he needs to grow a freaking pair and stop letting Sharon control him. This lawsuit is bogus. If Tony wins this, I seriously hope Heaven and Hell name their next album "Black Sabbath" just for the lulz.
isn't ozzy rich enough already..? oo;
Must be the drugs. They finally destroyed what was left of his mind.
Must be the drugs. They finally destroyed what was left of his mind.
He had a mind?
About 35 years ago, yes...
Well, to be fair, just about everyone that has been in Sabbath has been an addict before, with the exception of Dio (<3 him, Heaven and Hell is my favorite Sabbath album *Puts up flame shields*), but Ozzy was much more so than Iommi.
And to those who say (No one in this thread has, but a few Ozzy supporters...) that Iommi taking over the band was a douchey move, think about this. Iommi has been on EVERY Sabbath album, every single one. Not even Ozzy has done that (He was kicked out in 1979, though he rejoined in the 90's I think... not too sure on that one, will have to look that up later on). Tell me you wouldn't take ownership of a band where you are the ONLY constant. Not even Ozzy can say that.
And I LAWL hard at Ozzy demanding 50% of the profits, he didn't even contribute that much to Sabbath, it sickens me that he's the only one people think of when they say "Black Sabbath". All he did was sing, he didn't even do the lyrics (Geezer did that...), nor did he have a hand in writing any musical portions of Sabbath at all.
He wasn't "kicked out", he quit to go solo because he thought he could go it alone, so he poached the guitarist from Quiet Riot and became a soloist, of sorts. Bill Ward left about the same time and they brought in Ronnie James Dio from Rainbow and Vinnie Appice to replace Bill. After three albums, Dio split and took Vinnie with him to form Dio, though they DID team back up again for Dehumanizer in 1994. Recently, the second incarnation of Sabbath (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Appice) reunited and did some new material. Iommi wanted a break after that but Dio and Butler formed Heaven & Hell (from the title of the first Dio Sabbath album) and cut an album and have started a tour.
Ozzy DID reunite with Butler and Iommi, but it was for a short tour; there was no studio album.
Wiki says he was kicked out from drug overuse... *Shrug* Oh well.
Wiki should always be taken with a grain of salt.
No offence but just because you don't like Ozzy doesn't mean he doesn't have the legal right to claim for something he may well have the right to claim for, it really depends on the contractual agreements and so on. And yeah, legality stuff can be annoying, but that doesn't mean it isn't fair.
Under no circumstances would he be entitled to half. There were FOUR original members, OK? Is he saying the Bill Ward, Geezer Butler AND Iommi are worth less than he is?
Under the circumstances that they all agreed to it then yes, if they all signed an agreement that Ozzy gets half and they split the rest, then yes. However, if such a contract doesn't exist then I agree that he is wrong to make the lawsuit, and it probably won't get very far. The band can still make a case, perhaps he wasn't living up to obligations or something, but I don't know the specifics, and if you do then feel free to say so.
Also the music industry is especially known for douchey legal moves, most performers make very little for their hard work compared to the companies publishing it.
As it seems, there appears to be no agreement in place (I seriously doubt Ozzy would be given half their profits after he left in '79), and as it stands, Iommi is the ONLY constant member of Sabbath, the only one to appear on every studio album, so I would say that Sabbath is Iommi's band, not Ozzy's, and who gets what profits should be dictated by him (In my opinion at least), and I honestly think its tragic that when people think "Black Sabbath" the first thing that pops in their head is "Ozzy", who is easily the least talented member to ever be apart of that group (Not a terrible singer, but he certainly isn't even Sabbath's best singer, that goes to Dio), he doesn't even have a SINGLE songwriting credit to any Sabbath song (As far as I know, but I know a lot of Sabbath members saying all he did was do a vocal harmony and that was it while the others would actually write the lyrics, riffs, solo's, basslines, etc.). And to say that he wants 50% for doing in reality, ALMOST JACK *?! That's not even silly, that's just *ed up.
Oh and his arguement about how Sabbath fell off when he left, their next album right after he left, "Heaven and Hell" is their third best selling album, iirc
