Legal

Bon Jovi sends cease and desist to all-girl tribute act

By | Published on Monday 6 April 2009

An all-girl Bon Jovi tribute band, called Blonde Jovi, are having to change their name after receiving a cease and desist order accusing them of having too similar a name and logo to the actual band and therefore confusing fans.

According to Undercover, the letter from Bon Jovi’s legal people read: “It has recently come to our attention that your band is using the mark and name BLONDE JOVI in connection with live musical performances; more specifically, a Bon Jovi tribute band. Our investigation also uncovered that you are using Bon Jovi Production’s ‘Heart and Dagger’ logo trademark prominently on your website. Unfortunately, and despite the fact that our client appreciates the reverence that your band pays tribute to Bon Jovi, as a tribute band, our client nevertheless is charged with the duty of enforcing its trademark rights”.

It continues: “In this regard, BJP cannot allow your band to use the mark and name BLONDE JOVI (or any other BJP trademarks), as such use creates a likelihood of confusion with our client, and capitalises on the goodwill and reputation of its well-known marks. In view of the above, we demand, on behalf of our client, that you and your band immediately (i) cease and desist any and all further use of the mark and name BLONDE JOVI, or any other mark or name similar to our client’s BON JOVI mark, in any manner”. They concede: “We have no objection to your use of the word BLONDE as long as it is not used in combination with JOVI”.

The tribute group have temporarily changed their name to Blonde Jersey while they try to come up with something better. With a ‘current mood’ of “pissed off”, they’ve written on their MySpace: “Due to threatened legal action by Jon Bon Jovi’s attorneys, we will no longer be using the name BLONDE JOVI. We are temporarily calling ourselves BLONDE JERSEY, until we come up with a new name. If you have any name suggestions, please email us! Nothing containing JOVI, or anything similar to JOVI may be used so BLONDE GIOVI, BLONDE JOE V, BLONDE JOVIE, are not options. Thanks for your support! Too bad we didn’t go with our original name idea of BOOB JOVI!”.

While I know some tribute bands are guilty of marketing themselves in such a way that there can be confusion with the original outfits, especially with those Motown-type bands where the public know the songs better than the individuals in the group, I can’t help thinking this is a case of Jon Bon Jovi’s legal people seeing an opportunity to make a few quid. I bet they hoped the girl band would fight their legal action enabling them to bill much more fees.



READ MORE ABOUT: