Former-Journey frontman Steve Perry has filed a lawsuit against former bandmates and current Journey members, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. The Music Universe reported Perry is suing the pair, “over the use of 20 of the band’s songs as registered trademarks. Between February and May 2022, Schon and Cain were granted trademarks for some of the band’s biggest hits for use on merchandising, such as hats, jackets, shirts, etc., without Perry’s consent.”
According to the report, even if a song was entirely written by only one member of the partners, it “would require unanimous approval and consent by the Partners prior to use, as a trademark or otherwise, on or in connection with any products.”
Perry’s filing states in part, that per his legal agreement with the two, “. . . no Partner may authorize, approve or disapprove any use or exploitation, or grant or license any rights in or to any Group Composition(s), in whole or in part, (including, without limitation, the titles thereof) in connection with any Product or otherwise, without the prior, written, unanimous consent of all of the Partners in each instance, and any purported authorization, approval, disapproval, grant, or license in violation hereof shall be deemed void from inception.”
Perry is seeking a cancellation of their trademark registrations, accusing Schon and Cain with “fraud (due to) false or misleading information with the intent to deceive or defraud the USPTO into granting Registrant the Registrations.”
Steve Perry’s petition was filed this past September 11th in Woodland Hills, California and specifically cited the following songs: “Any Way You Want It,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” “Wheel In The Sky,” “Stone In Love,” “Separate Ways,” “Open Arms,” “I’ll Be Alright Without You,” “When You Love A Woman,” “Who’s Crying Now, “Raised On Radio,” “Good Morning Girl,” “Only The Young,” “Trial By Fire,” “Stay Awhile,” “Still They Ride,” “Hopelessly In Love,” “Send Her My Love,” “After the Fall,” “Girl Can’t Help It,” and “Ask the Lonely.”
FAST FACTS
- Journey‘s last album with Steve Perry was 1996’s Trial By Fire, which reunited the classic Escape/Frontiers lineup of Neal Schon on guitar, Ross Valory on bass, Jonathan Cain on keyboards, and Steve Smith on drums.
- The album peaked at Number Three on the Billboard 200 charts — with its single, “When You Love A Woman” hitting Number One on the magazine’s Adult Contemporary chart.
- Perry left Journey in 1998 rather than be forced into hip-surgery so that the band could tour behind Trial By Fire.
- He briefly reunited with the band onstage in 2017 to make an acceptance speech during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
CHECK IT OUT: Journey’s 1986 video for “Girl Can’t Help It”: