Meat Loaf has ended those legal proceedings against songwriter Jim Steinman relating to the Bat Out Of Hell trademark.
As previously reported, Steinman, who conceived the original Bat Out Of Hell album, successfully trademarked the name in 1995, but earlier this year Meat Loaf said that he would look for the courts to overturn that trademark on the basis that he had had a stronger claim to the name. The dispute came to ahead now because Meat Loaf is about to launch a third instalment of the Bat Out Of Hell trilogy without Steinman's involvement and, presumably, it was felt Steinman's ownership of the name could make that release difficult.
But yesterday Meat Loaf and his label, Virgin Records, confirmed he had called off the trademark lawsuit. At a press event to promote the upcoming third Bat Out Of Hell release, he seemed to be keen to build bridges with Steinman (who reacted angrily to Meat Loaf's lawsuit), telling reporters: "If it was not for Jim Steinman and his brilliance and his ability to turn a phrase and his concepts, we wouldn't be here tonight". On the new project he continued: "He [Steinman] really liked the record - that's really important to me. We tried to show him as much respect and loyalty as we could because we're doing Bat Out of Hell III. It's his concept."
A statement from Virgin added: "The two came to an amicable agreement that ensured that Jim Steinman's music would be a continuing part of the Bat out of Hell legacy".