The UK Intellectual Property Office, which I'm sure is a fun fun place to work, has ruled that the original members of Frankie Goes To Hollywood can tour and perform under that name without the involvement or permission of original frontman Holly Johnson.
Four former FGTH members, including three original members, reformed back in 2005 in order to play at a concert celebrating the career of music producer and FGTH's label boss Trevor Horn. But Johnson didn't participate, in no mood to celebrate the producer and label boss he'd had a legal spat with in the late eighties. Johnson's decision motivated the other band members to stage a public audition for a new frontman, eventually recruiting Ryan Molloy. The reformed band then played a number of live shows and festivals after the Trevor Horn event, before beginning work on a new album.
However, a potential spanner was thrown into the works for the all new FGTH when Johnson, who had publicly disapproved of the new version of his band, applied for the FGTH trademark, claiming that he alone should have ownership of the name. Had he got that trademark he could have stopped the revamped band from using the FGTH name.
However, following an objection to Johnson's application by the other founder members, the aforementioned Intellectual Property Office has refused the former frontman's claim. A statement issued by the revamped band said yesterday that the IP Office ruled that "the goodwill in the name of the iconic group belonged to the band as an original partnership" and that, as a result, "it was not the property of any one of the band members" and therefore Johnson's application had been made in "bad faith". The decision means that the band, who had been performing as Forbidden Hollywood while the trademark dispute worked its way through the system, will be able to tour and release their new record as Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Commenting on the decision, a representative of the band's lawyers Bristows, Brian Cordery, told CMU: "Band split-ups are always messy in terms of intellectual property. This is because young talent rarely thinks about the legal niceties of success or splitting. This was the correct decision, but it was a shame that it took litigation to get the right result". Not a shame for Bristows presumably, who I'm guessing didn't fight the band's case for free. Still, well done all of them.