Temptations and trademarks

By Eriq Gardner

The Temptations are one of the most successful acts in American musical history, recording hit after hit for Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s. Now the group's legacy and future is caught up in a strange little trademark dispute.

A company called Live Gold Operations says it has been promoting the entertainment services of "former lead singers of the historical recording group The Temptations."

Meanwhile, Otis Williams also is performing under The Temptations moniker and on his website calls himself the "only living original member of The Temptations."

 

Live Gold responds that Williams "was never a lead singer." And somehow Universal Music Group is being sued. Say what?

Williams and Live Gold are fighting each other in a separate legal dispute, hashing out who owns the rights to use phrases like "The Temptations" and "Motown." That case has established that UMG holds the trademark to these phrases and has licensed the "Temptations" mark to Williams. A UMG lawyer Carla Miller also testified in that case the company hasn't licensed anybody to use "Motown" in live performances.

So now Live Gold is bringing suit against UMG, claiming that the statements made by Miller "were threatening to Live Gold, which wishes to use the word Motown in connection with the performances."

Live Gold is asking a California District Court to declare that UMG has abandoned its trademark on "Temptations" by failing to protest the use of the mark by others. Live Gold points out various singers and entities, including Live Gold for the past seven years, have been using the trademark freely. Therefore, UMG is claimed to have been put "on actual notice" of trademark use and has "never exercised any quality control" over the mark.

This is one of the stranger battles over the rights to use a band name, but things like this do happen from time to time. The seemingly endless litigation over the Beach Boys name is one example.