The Tommy Vext – Better Noise Music saga continues. On Wednesday (25th), Better Noise Music, as well as Five Nineteen Music Publishing Inc. and 10th Street Entertainment, filed a lawsuit against the former Bad Wolves frontman for copyright infringement.
According to the suit, as reported by The PRP, the label claims that Vext violated their intellectual property by allegedly posting unreleased Bad Wolves recordings and videos without permission to Patreon and OnlyFans. He is also accused of violating a 2017 written agreement signed by the band’s co-founders providing access to the Bad Wolves trademark for marketing purposes, as well as ownership of recordings and music videos.
Said Better Noise in the suit,
“Motivated by greed and his oversized ego, Vext claimed that he owns Bad Wolves and has a right to block the remaining members from recording and releasing music under the name Bad Wolves.”
The lawsuit makes specific mention of Vext’s upcoming tour, which he’s promoting as “Tommy Vext and the B@d W8lv3s.” Says the suit,
“Vext‘s retaliatory conduct is getting worse by the day. Now, he is promoting his own ‘tour’ using the confusingly similar name ‘B@D W8LV3S’ in a blatant attempt to confuse concertgoers into thinking this is an approved tour.”
Better Noise’s suit comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed in July by Vext for $10 million, citing breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties by Better Noise’s Allen Kovac. He alleged that Kovac and the band were trying to oust him because of his right-wing ideology and support of QAnon theories. He also claims that Kovac used racist language towards him (though he also believes that there is no such thing as racism). Kovac and the band have both denied these claims.
Vext’s lawyer Malcolm S. McNeil responded to the new lawsuit, telling Law360 (as reported by The PRP),
“From the timing of the complaint, it is clear that the New York action is intended to deflect from the allegations in the LASC complaint. Our complaint was filed weeks ago and this was the response. Tommy was retaliated against by Mr. Kovac and his entities, for his political views. It is our view that Mr. Kovac breached his duties and responsibilities to Tommy as his manager.”
The full lawsuit can be read at Law360 (with a subscription).
These were far from Vext’s only legal woes in the last year. In 2020, ex-girlfriend Whitney Johns sued the singer for domestic abuse and was granted a two-year restraining order against him.
Vext left Bad Wolves in early 2021. In June, former Acacia Strain guitarist Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz was announced as his replacement. The band recently finished work on their third studio album, Dear Monsters.
