Does anyone remeber 80s Glam punks-Wrathchild-and their songs like Stakk Attack? Well seems they are fighting over the name. Read below..... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Well hello to one and all. We are sure you have all seen the news articles on Classic Rock Magazine's web site and forums around the Internet. We now feel it is time to let you all in on the full story and we can assure you that you will see Rocky Shades and his band rise from the ashes of HELL victorious. wrathchild-03-05-09028_1.jpg The story starts in later December '08 when Rocky Shades' dream of bringing Wrathchild back on the map started becoming a reality. In January work started with the new version of Wrathchild, the new website went online with the news, and fans from around the globe started to contact us wishing the band and Rocky well and hoping to see us on the road soon. We were soon billed to play Hard Rock Hell III in December and work began on a new image for the band and a great new direction for the music, which would bring Rocky Shades' new version of Wrathchild up to date (we were never going to stay in the 80s, unlike some people). With the band working away and with a new look and feel in place, little did we know that the Devil's hands were at work, in the incarnation of a band called Psychowrath. This is how we and many fans see how the next part of the story goes. Psychowrath have been around for a good few years, which is a band with Rocky's old band mates (we are saying mates in the loosest possible term). They, from what you could see, were doing a few gigs here and there, not much. But the guys could obviously see that Rocky was making waves and must have thought - - Well you know what we will do? - We will stop them and we will take over - They have done the hard work for us - We might even be able to sell our new Psychowrath album using the name Wrathchild. So they went and registered the name 'Wrathchild' as a trademark. Now this is where it starts getting a bit of a head F@$K. When they put in the application for the trade mark they had not thought of the fact that for a start, when the band stopped back in 1989, no one (including Rocky) signed anything giving up their rights to the name (the band is legally classed as trading under a partnership); meaning that legally if any one member wanted to trade mark the name all members of the band would have to approve and agree. The next thing is that when you apply for a trademark it goes on to a government database so other people can challenge it. This is so that other people are given a fair chance to oppose it should they feel they have the right to do so. The first Rocky knew about all this was when his new bass player received a letter. How they got his address we will never know, but we have a good idea it was done by deception. This matter will be looked into soon as it is a criminal offence and if proven it will fall in to the hands of the police. Now this is where it starts getting really interesting. We were put in contact with a top law firm in London, who did a lot of digging and agreed we had a very strong case and advised us that from the evidence Rocky has the grounds to challenge their trade mark registrations on the basis that they were made in bad faith. Well this is brings us up to date. Due to these sad individuals thinking they have the higher ground they contacted Hard Rock Hell and because of this we have been pulled from the bill. (We also would like to state that when we were booked we never made any claim that any of the other members from the original line up were involved). We can now release our plans for the future with great confidence knowing that they may have stopped us playing one show but they have not won the war!! As of today our lawyers have filed a claim to invalidate the trademark they have registered. This will stop them from illegitimately claiming any exclusive rights to the name Wrathchild or using a "TM". They will also be receiving a letter from our lawyers in the next few days informing them about this. Now this will become a big legal battle as we have invested heavily into it to make sure we have the best people on our side. What they have done will hit them in the face harder then it has done to us. As we have put in a claim to invalidate their trademark they no longer have the exclusive right to continue using the name Wrathchild. We will be known after all this is sorted as 'Rocky Shades Wrathchild' and this name is being trade marked as we speak. The great thing about the new name is. 1. It is going to let the fans know who they are seeing (the man that has and will always be Wrathchild) 2. As this is Rocky Shades name the trademark rights will be rock solid. All we have left to say is 'The Bizz Still Suxx' and some people suck more!! Regards Rocky Shades Wrathchild
