Steve Perry has dropped a trademark lawsuit against his former Journey bandmates.
Perry filed a petition to withdraw his lawsuit against Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. Perry, who permanently exited the band in 1998, had filed the suit in September over the use of 20 of the band’s songs as registered trademarks.
Between February and May 2022, Schon and Cain, who own the trademarks under their Freedom JN LLC banner, were granted trademarks for some of the band’s biggest hits, like “Separate Ways,” “Open Arms” and “Anyway You Want It” for use on merchandising, such as hats, jackets, shirts, etc., without Perry’s consent.
Perry claimed that he, Cain and Schon had an agreement that required unanimous consent for any business decision related to the trademarks and that he had not authorized said consent.
However, Schon, on Friday January 6, revealed on social media that Perry had withdrawn the lawsuit. He also shared a screenshot of the filing on Twitter from the United States Patent and Trademark Office that states, “Petitioner, without the written consent of Respondent, filed a withdrawal of the petition for cancellation on January 4, 2023. Trademark Rule 2.114(c) provides that after an answer is filed, the petition for cancellation may not be withdrawn without prejudice except with the written consent of Respondent. In view thereof, and because the withdrawal was filed after the answer, the petition for cancellation is denied without prejudice.”
When asked directly if Perry pulled the lawsuit, Schon responded, “Yes he did. Now we can talk as we were.”
(Photo: Joe Mabel)
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