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New Order settle legal dispute with Peter Hook

By | Published on Thursday 21 September 2017

New Order

New Order have settled their legal dispute with former bassist Peter Hook, though we’re confident the informal feuding between Hookie and his one time bandmates will continue. So not all is lost.

As previously reported, Hook went legal in 2015, though the feuding long pre-dated that. The lawsuit focused on the business arrangements of New New Order – ie what happened when the band reformed sans-Hookie in 2011.

A new company had been formed to manage the band’s new activity, licensing in the New Order name from the band’s older company, in which Hook still had a stake. The bassist’s lawyer argued that the new business had been structured to screw his client out of royalties.

However, the lawyer repping Hook’s former bandmates – ie Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert – argued that New Order’s current operations had been set up in an “entirely reasonable” way, and the royalties Hook was receiving from the band’s new activity were totally fair. He added that Hook was basically pursuing a vendetta by going legal, though the judge reckoned the bassist had a decent enough case for the litigation to proceed.

There’s no need for any more proceedings though, now a settlement has been finalised. The band said in a statement yesterday: “New Order announce that today, a full and final settlement has been reached in the long running disputes with their former bassist Peter Hook”.

Noting that the dispute over the use of New Order assets – and assets of the group’s previous band Joy Division – actually cut both ways, the band’s statement continued: “The disputes were based upon Hook’s use of various New Order and Joy Division assets on merchandising and in the promotion of shows by his new band, and the amount of money he receives from the use of the name New Order by his former colleagues since 2011”.

The band concluded: “The Joy Division and New Order names mean a great deal to so many of the fans, and the band felt it important to protect the legacy. With these issues now dealt with, Bernard, Stephen and Gillian can continue to do what they do best, make music and perform live”.



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