Court Rules Against Bobby Blotzer In Battle Over Ratt

(Classic Rock) The US District Court in California has ruled against Bobby Blotzer's WBS Inc. in a case over Ratt trademark infringement issues. It's the latest twist in the long-running legal dispute involving members of the band, with Blotzer claiming in 2015 that he could use the Ratt name following a five-year trademark fight.

But a California judge has now ruled against his company WBS Inc. who claimed to own the Ratt brand. When Blotzer secured the name last year, he made several demands that original member Juan Croucier stopped calling his project 'Ratt's Juan Croucier' and refrained from advertising himself as "the other voice of Ratt."

But court papers show that five members of the band - Blotzer, Croucier, Warren DeMartini, Robbin Crosby and Stephen Pearcy - formed the Ratt Partnership in 1985, so that "no partner could transfer his interest without the unanimous written consent of all partners."

When WBS Inc. sent Croucier a letter sacking him in 1997, only Blotzer, Pearcy and DeMartini were members - and because of that, they insisted they didn't need his consent when transferring the Ratt trademark from the partnership to WBS.

However, the court found the letter to be insufficient as it was signed only by Blotzer and Pearcy and there was "no evidence that DeMartini ever consented to Croucier's expulsion."

The court say as there's no evidence that Croucier was expelled, "WBS cannot make the threshold showing that it has an ownership interest in the marks, and its trademark claims fail." Read more here.

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