Like two titans warring over the same country, singer Ozzy Osbourne is suing guitarist Tony Iommi for rights and royalties associated with the name Black Sabbath. Osbourne accuses Iommi of falsely claiming to have sole rights to the band name, resulting in lost royalties.
Iommi, the band's only constant member, registered the US trademark for Black Sabbath in 2000. Osbourne has quit the band several times – notably from 1985 to 1997 – and Iommi has claimed he relinquished his legal rights to the legendary metal moniker.
"Please do the right thing," Osbourne asked his bandmate in a statement this week. "After three years of trying to resolve this issue amicably, I feel I have no other recourse [but to sue]."
According to the BBC, Osbourne seeks unspecified damages, lost profits and official recognition as co-owner of the trademark. He also asked that rights to the Black Sabbath name be shared among the band's members.
"Tony, I am so sorry it's had to get to this point by me having to take this action against you," Osbourne wrote. "I don't have the right to speak for [bassist] Geezer [Butler] and [drummer] Bill [Ward], but I feel that morally and ethically the trademark should be owned by the four of us equally. I hope that by me taking this first step that it will ultimately end up that way."
While Osbourne acknowledged Iommi as the sole Black Sabbath flag-waver in the 90s, he argued that the band's – and brand's – commercial resurrection was a shared accomplishment. "As of the mid-90s ... the brand of Black Sabbath was literally in the toilet," he wrote, remaining mercifully vague on the details of the "literal" toilet. "Since 1997 when Geezer, Bill and myself rejoined the band, Black Sabbath has returned to its former glory ... We worked collectively to restore credibility and bring dignity back to the name Black Sabbath ... [and] it was my management representatives who oversaw the marketing and quality control of the Black Sabbath brand."
Black Sabbath were formed in Birmingham in 1968. The heavy-metal band have sold more than 100m albums worldwide and are members of both the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.
