Orange County punkers The Vandals are facing more legal troubles over the use of the logo for Hollywood’s entertainment trade magazine, Variety. This time around, though, the band claims to not hold culpability for the use of the magazine’s trademark.
The band’s latest release (2004’s Hollywood Potato Chip) featured artwork that resembled a little too closely Variety‘s logo, resulting in a cease and desist order being issued against the band. The band complied and all materials rendering the logo were removed from retail shelves and subsequent pressings of Hollywood Potato Chip contained different artwork (which can be seen at the top of this article).
Since then, apparently, the original cover art has been cropping up around the Internet (specifically, Kung-Fu, etc., related websites) much to Variety‘s chagrin, thus sparking yet another lawsuit. This time, the complaint from the magazine was that the band had committed a breach of settlement. As previously stated, The Vandals state that the matter is out of their hands; the logo does not appear on any of their affiliated websites and is not in their control, yet, according to the statement released by The Vandals, Variety refuses to inform the band as to where the offending art can be found. For their supposed sins, Variety is suing The Vandals for an exorbitant amount of cheddar in addition to a demand of $25,000 for damages.
On top of the cockamamy accusations, Variety has hired attorneys in Delaware where neither of the parties involved do any kind of business nor do they dwell. This, surely, a move to force The Vandals to settle so as to avoid frequent and costly travel expenses.
The band is left confounded and has requested the aid of their fans and supporters to help them resolve this issue. Joe Escalante (the band’s only remaining original member, a label owner, radio host, director, and amateur lawyer) asks for whoever comes across The Vandals’ Variety logo (check it out here… I’d have posted the original cover, but that may prove counter-productive (hint: Wikipedia)) on a site that The Vandals control to contact him at joe@vandals.com with the whereabouts. Joe also promises that one’s efforts will not go unrewarded. To those who contribute to their cause, he is offering two tickets to an upcoming benefit show to help fund their legal fight against the Variety.
Also: Joe is also asking for assistance in seeking a Delaware attorney to aid them in getting the trial moved to California (I, actually, really don’t know why he’s complaining… isn’t Delaware’s state motto “The Resort State”?). Again, any information should be directed to joe@vandals.com.
Hooray for capitalism vs. the First Amendment.
PS – According to Wikipedia (and UrbanDictionary.com), a “Hollywood potato chip” is a vulgar industry term for a dried spot of semen which lies upon a casting couch.