Lawyers tour with band, file lawsuits

Street bootleggers irk Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses went on tour this month for the first time in almost two years, including an Aug. 3 concert in Boston’s Fenway Park, where front-row seats fetched $2,000 each. But along with its roadies, instruments and stage props, the rock band also brought its lawyers.

As fans return to music venues shut since the start of the pandemic, so is unlicensed souvenir apparel, like the T-shirts and bandannas hawked by vendors on nearby streets. Guns N’ Roses is filing lawsuits in tour cities to combat what it says are illegal peddlers that deprive the band of tens of thousands of dollars per night in merchandise sales.

“These bootleggers are, plainly and simply, parasites who wrongfully profit from the tremendous energies and reputations of performers,” Kenneth Feinswog, a lawyer for Global Merchandising Services Ltd., said in a court filing in New Jersey the day before the band’s Aug. 5 concert at MetLife Stadium. The company has exclusive license to sell Guns N’ Roses merchandise at U.S. concerts.

Branded products remain big business for the band, which rose to fame in the late 1980s with hit songs like “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” The band has sold more than 40 million recordings and more than $15 million worth of merchandise, court filings say. Its trademark is owned by lead singer Axl Rose, guitarist Saul “Slash” Hudson and bassist Michael “Duff” McKagan.

On Guns N’ Roses’ merchandise website, fans can buy everything from $25 branded shirts to $500 leather jackets, as well as a $35 top-hat skull belt buckle, a $30 Yo-Yo and a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle for $25. Knockoffs sold on street corners outside concerts cut into demand for authorized products and the band doesn’t get any of the money.

The music business is no stranger to legal fights over trademarks and copyrights. What’s less common are lawsuits like Guns N’ Roses’ targeting street-level vendors rather than big makers and distributors of bootleg products, said Jayne Durden, a vice president of law firm strategy at intellectual property management firm Anaqua. Still, it can be effective at discouraging illegal sales, even though few bootleggers ever show up for court and most cases die, she said.

“This is Whac-A-Mole, but with a massive paddle that makes some noise,” said Durden, based in New Alexandria, Va.