This just goes to show you that trademark rights are nothing to screw around with. Anwalt24.de is reporting that Finnish metal cellist group Apocalyptica has been ordered by the Regional Court Of Berlin to pay 45,000 euros (or around $59,000) to German industrial metal kings Rammstein for trademark infringement. The claims comes from an advertising campaign for Apocalyptica’s 2007 album Worlds Collide. The band wrongfully used the text “featuring Rammstein” on stickers placed on copies of the album sold in Germany. The name placement was in reference to Rammstein singer Till Lindemann’s appearance on the song “Helden.”
This comes shortly after news broke that Apocalyptica has been forced to pull Shinedown singer Brent Smith’s vocals off of their next single. While Smith’s vocals for the song “Not Strong Enough” will remain on the album, 2010’s 7th Symphony, the band apparently didn’t secure the rights to release the song to radio with Smith on it. Instead, the radio version will feature Hoobastank’s Doug Robb. All of these legal headaches lead you to ask whether it’s worth having so many guest vocals on an album. Well, at least it gets them radio play. We wouldn’t mess with Rammstein though. They don’t play fair – they use fire!
