THE BONZO DOG DOODAH BAND
The beloved surrealist gag-gangshow have run into trademark trouble, and know what? There ought to be a law against it. Rodney Slater tells how it feels.
OWNERSHIP OF a band name can be a complicated thing, as the existence of The New Cars, Oliver/ Dawson Saxon and ELO Part II proves. But what does a group do when a third party trademarks its moniker? This is the challenge now facing venerable purveyors of pleasing delirium The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: an “entity” registered their name as a “figurative trademark” without their knowledge in 2015, meaning they can’t play or record using the banner they’ve used for decades.
“It would never have crossed my mind that anyone would have tried to do it,” says Bonzos saxman Rodney Slater. “The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band never thought anyone would try to be them. I defy anybody to be me, Viv, Neil, Legs, Sam Spoons… it wasn’t a brand, it was intellectual, creative, emotional. This is like being confronted with someone else’s version of the most intimate and important facets of your life. You can’t be
who you are, with the guys who were so instrumental in creating this thing with you. It’s an absurd situation you can fucking do it at all! It’s a joke, but a very expensive one.”
Even worse, the band are facing a lawsuit by the trademark owner that says their attempt to win it back through the Intellectual Property Office Tribunal service amounts to a fraudulent conspiracy. Accordingly, they’ve launched a CrowdJustice appeal for funds to win their case and then, hopefully, to bring about a change in the law.
Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East and admirer of late Bonzo Vivian Stanshall’s 1980 film Sir Henry At Rawlinson End, agrees this is necessary. “The current system allows anyone to register a band or artist’s name with the IPO, with little to no meaningful checks in place to verify the legitimacy of the person doing so,” she tells MOJO. “This is resulting in the process being abused, with artists and bands having to undergo long, slow and expensive trademark disputes. Modern Romance have experienced this problem in the past, and had to go through a 22-month dispute before winning their case, so there’s a clear precedent for legislative change.”
Andy Kyriacou, who’s led reunited ’80s popsters Modern Romance since 1999, says of his own unfortunate trademark experience, “It cost me 20 grand. But it’s so easy to do, and it shouldn’t be. I really feel for the Bonzos. What if they want a last hurrah?”
Slater indicates this is on the cards, when they hopefully get their name back. “Adversity in this manner, I’ve found to be very creative,” he says. “The ether is ringing constantly with good stuff and there’ll be some sort of public thanks for people who supported us – an outburst of cathartic release! Morale is high at the moment.”
What, wonders MOJO, would Viv have thought? “Oh my goodness!” says Rodney. “He would have exploded! He was a very honest, uncomplicated man on issues like that, with strong views. So he would have been apoplectic and we would have had to put him in a darkened room.”
“We are actually doing it for everybody else too,” he adds. “This loophole needs to be plugged. Everyone with IP is vulnerable, so get it bloody copyrighted right now, whoever you are! Because it’s very simple, you should be allowed to use your name – and if I’ve got any juice left I want to be up there doing it, not this.”
Ian Harrison
“Vivian would have been apoplectic!” RODNEY SLATER