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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject: The "Metallica: What a bunch of knobs" thread |
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I had heard of Metallica vs. Napster of course.
Laughed at Al Yankovic's song, but thought Metallica probably had a point and people were being a little harsh on them for standing up for Artist's rights.
But then I heard they sued Revlon or Max Factor because they came out with a lipstick line in metallic colours called- Metallica, of course.
Was that petty?
Well, these companies make oodles of money and they were trying to use for free a name that had been trademarked/copyrighted/whatever the hell the correct term is
(yes, it's true- I don't know the difference between a trademarked name and a copyrighted one. Let the jeering and pointing commence)...
so maybe that was justified, from one corporate machine to another.
So today I'm surfing various music sites and I come across this
(from 2003)!
This is the first time I've heard of this
(and I've NEVER heard of the band mentioned, even though they are based just a couple of hours from me and I visted the city at least a few times a year),
and I'm thinking WTF?!?
How many lawyers does Metallica have, exactly?
And do they control the lawyers, or do the lawyers control them?
Has anyone heard of this before?
Hopefully by now you are asking
"What is he going on about? What's the story?"
It is this:
Metallica suing an indie band over their use of the chords E and F.
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Metallica Sue Canadian Band over E, F Chords
07.15.2003 1:55 PM EDT
"It's just a matter of a band having the right to protect the chords it uses. I couldn't start up my own soft drink company using the exact same formula as Coca-Cola." Jill Pietrini, Metallica's lawyer
MONTREAL- Metallica are taking legal action against independant Canadian rock band Unfaith over what they feel is unsanctioned usage of two chords the band has been using since 1982 : E and F.
"People are going to get on our case again for this, but try to see it from our point of view just once," stated Metallica's Lars Ulrich. "We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music."
Metallica filed a trademark infringement suit against the indie group at the US district court for central California on Monday. According to the drummer, the continued use of the two chords causes "confusion, deception and mistake in the minds of the public".
Metallica's lawyer, Jill Pietrini, told us that the band decided to take legal action only after first sending a letter of complaint to the Canadian band's singer/songwriter, Erik Ashley.
"We sent a demand letter and haven't reached a resolution, so we had to sue," she said. "They continue to shamelessly feature the two chords on their website song samples and we just can't have that."
Ashley, in the meantime, is still shocked by the entire story, and hasn't yet decided how the band will respond.
"I thought it was a prank at first," he told us. "Now I'm not sure what to think."
Ulrich states that he's not trying to prevent Unfaith from using the two chords, only that he feels Metallica should be credited for them whenever used, and is calling for 50% of all revenue generated from any song using them.
"It's nothing personal against them," he added. "We intend to enforce our rights with any band intending to use Metallica-branded chords in the future."
This marks the first time anything of this kind has ever been tried in court, and it will be interesting to see how things develop.
Metallica's website has issued an official statement on the suit here.
Unfaith's official website hasn't officially responded at print time.
—Joe D'Angelo |
http://www.scoopthis.com/411/met_uf/stc_met_uf_mtv.htm
I hope Igothisguitar doesn't try to sue me over unsanctioned use of the bold, underline, italic and other formatting buttons... |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Off the friggen charts! I never liked thier music, but this is just beyond the pale. If I could be bothered I could come up with, oh, say about five hundred examples of the movement from E to F in very popular music going back to about the 1920's. If the defence has some musical nouse, and they should, they'll bury Metalica in this case. "Metalica branded chords", what a friggen joke. I know a bit about musical copyright, and it's a fact that you can't copyright chords, only melody. This is tragic stuff. I hope it ruins them. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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I bought a book Metallica bass lines once.
There was only one page. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Satori wrote: |
| I know a bit about musical copyright, and it's a fact that you can't copyright chords, only melody |
I read you could copyright anything that was 'recognisable' so if you started off a song with the same chord as the one that opens "Hard Day's Night"- the Beatles would probably have a case.
E, F though? Well, cocaine's a hell of a drug. |
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Bo Peabody
Joined: 25 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Bo Peabody on Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:32 pm Post subject: Re: The "Metallica: What a bunch of knobs" thread |
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I have two things to say about Metallica:
1. They tried to sue my friends.
http://www.unb.ca/bruns/0203/15/entertainment/metallica.html
2. They originally stole the name from a friend who was going to put together a heavy metal magazine. He had a bunch of names picked out, and one was Metallica; the Metallica guys liked it, so they told him it sucked and then later stole it. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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The article about the lawsuit over the two chords is a joke. If you played guitar, you would have gotten it. Many of their songs make extensive use of these two chords (actually, the E and F# chords). Metallica's songs are not particularly challenging to play, to say the least.
Last edited by Hollywoodaction on Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:31 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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This is what I am wondering- is it literally a joke?
Have I stumbled across something from April Fool's Day 2003?
Or did Metallica really try to do this?
The place I've ever heard of this was from this website- more research is needed... |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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Ahhh Snopes...  |
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Chillin' Villain
Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Location: Goo Row
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:24 pm Post subject: Re: The "Metallica: What a bunch of knobs" thread |
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I read the article, and this quote was very funny. I lol'd.
| funny guy after receiving cease-and-desist letter from Metallica wrote: |
| "What if we want to change the name to something like Metardica," asks Blair. "Is that OK?" |
(Oh yeah, and the first thing I thought about the OP article was that it was straight outta The Onion or something.) |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:32 pm Post subject: Re: The "Metallica: What a bunch of knobs" thread |
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| Chillin' Villain wrote: |
I read the article, and this quote was very funny. I lol'd.
| funny guy after receiving cease-and-desist letter from Metallica wrote: |
| "What if we want to change the name to something like Metardica," asks Blair. "Is that OK?" |
(Oh yeah, and the first thing I thought about the OP article was that it was straight outta The Onion or something.) |
The official spelling of their name was actually "Metallickugh." After the lawsuit I tried to get them to change their name to "Metal Licks Ass," but they went with "Teenage Surf Invasion" or something. |
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billybrobby
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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| you should be wary when the misspell independent in the first line |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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| billybrobby wrote: |
| you should be wary when the misspell independent in the first line |
oh yeah everyone's a wiseacre now we all know it's fake! |
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Axl Rose
Joined: 16 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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"People are going to get on our case again for this, but try to see it from our point of view just once," stated Metallica's Lars Ulrich. "We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music."
(Lars)
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I've grown to associate S, U, C, K and S with your music.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of NO Metallica songs that utilize E and F in this way, if i've understood Larse correctly.
a true rock n roller knows there's no-one original out there and Metallica, who are milionaires, should be pleased their dreadful music has had an influence (heaven only knows why). |
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