The rock supergroup created by the second series of US TV show Rock Star have had to change their name to avoid that trademark dispute.
As previously reported, the plan had been to call the new group - which features Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, as well as the winner of the reality show, one Lukas Rossi - Supernova. So much so the second series of the TV show, which recruited a new frontman for INXS in season one, was called Rock Star: Supernova.
However, there is already a Californian band called Supernova who have released four albums using that moniker, and they took legal action to stop the new band stealing their name. They won an albeit temporary injunction last week that stopped the makers of the TV show and the band they had created from using the name on any recordings or for any live activity.
While that injunction was a temporary ruling pending a full court hearing over the dispute, the people behind the new Supernova need to get their debut album released as soon as possible in order to cash in on the success of the TV show (SonyBMG label Epic has already scheduled in a 21 Nov release date), so had no interest in getting sucked into a drawn out trademark dispute. To that end they announced yesterday that a settlement had been reached with the new band's Californian namesakes, and that the supergroup would now be known as Rock Star Supernova.
It is unclear if the out of court agreement with the original Supernova includes any financial settlement. Though the publicity the legal dispute has garnered the original Supernova (previously best known for the track they contributed to the 'Clerks' soundtrack) may well justify their legal fees.