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Metallica Sue Canadian Band over E, F Chords
MTV News ^ | 2003-07-16 | Joe D'Angelo

Posted on 07/16/2003 1:39:38 PM PDT by detsaoT

MONTREAL - Metallica are taking legal action against independant Canadian rock band Unfaith over what they feel is unsanctioned usage of two chords the band has been using since 1982 : E and F.

"People are going to get on our case again for this, but try to see it from our point of view just once," stated Metallica's Lars Ulrich. "We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music."

Metallica filed a trademark infringement suit against the indie group at the US district court for central California on Monday. According to the drummer, the continued use of the two chords causes "confusion, deception and mistake in the minds of the public".

Metallica's lawyer, Jill Pietrini, told us that the band decided to take legal action only after first sending a letter of complaint to the Canadian band's singer/songwriter, Erik Ashley.

"We sent a demand letter and haven't reached a resolution, so we had to sue," she said. "They continue to shamelessly feature the two chords on their website song samples and we just can't have that."

Ashley, in the meantime, is still shocked by the entire story, and hasn't yet decided how the band will respond.

"I thought it was a prank at first," he told us. "Now I'm not sure what to think."

Ulrich states that he's not trying to prevent Unfaith from using the two chords, only that he feels Metallica should be credited for them whenever used, and is calling for 50% of all revenue generated from any song using them.

"It's nothing personal against them," he added. "We intend to enforce our rights with any band intending to use Metallica-branded chords in the future."

This marks the first time anything of this kind has ever been tried in court, and it will be interesting to see how things develop.

Metallica's website has issued an official statement on the suit here.

Unfaith's official website hasn't officially responded at print time.

- Joe D'Angelo


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: doh; goodspoof; goombahs; hacks; hasbeens; hoax; joke; loudnessrocks; mdm; metallica; notalent; notreal; scoopthiscomeback; vanhalenrules
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To: Last Visible Dog
relax dude.
61 posted on 07/16/2003 2:38:29 PM PDT by Charlie OK
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To: Possenti
What the hell is an "indie" group anyway? I always thought that was where the band was from. Apparently not - these guys are Canadian.

indie means not signed to a major label.

62 posted on 07/16/2003 2:38:39 PM PDT by Last Visible Dog
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To: austinTparty
new album sales must be waaay down. It look like they're trying for some publicity.
63 posted on 07/16/2003 2:39:33 PM PDT by Wrigley
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To: detsaoT
It's not April 1st and this isn't from the Onion. What's the punch line?
64 posted on 07/16/2003 2:39:58 PM PDT by tdadams
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To: detsaoT
You got duped, big time. This isn't from MTV.com. It's a spoof site. It's probably a lame attempt by the band Unfaith to get some publicity. And you just fell for it.
65 posted on 07/16/2003 2:44:06 PM PDT by tdadams
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To: thchronic
People, this is a JOKE. It is NOT REAL. It is not really from MTV News.

Bloody HELL. That was a good job. The links from the MTV website to the Metallica website made it quite convincing.

I still think Lars in a boil on the butt of rock music.

66 posted on 07/16/2003 2:44:26 PM PDT by Last Visible Dog
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To: Mr. Mojo
That's not a Metallica fan, that's the drummer!
67 posted on 07/16/2003 2:47:55 PM PDT by tdadams
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To: tdadams
LOL!
68 posted on 07/16/2003 2:49:16 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: tdadams
You got duped, big time. This isn't from MTV.com. It's a spoof site. It's probably a lame attempt by the band Unfaith to get some publicity. And you just fell for it.

ThinkDifferent pointed this out to me about 40 posts ago. Thanks, though. I get it now.

;) ttt

69 posted on 07/16/2003 2:53:38 PM PDT by detsaoT (Socialism Is Bankruptcy - just ask Kalifornia (or The City Of Evil!))
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To: detsaoT
Don't even think of playing, or even humming C. My lawyers will hunt you down to the ends of the scale.
70 posted on 07/16/2003 2:54:16 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: EggsAckley
Such silliness. And Metallica doesn't even realize how much they are embarassing themselves.

Agree. Like everyone else, I thought it was a joke at first. E and F aren't even chords, they're notes. Do they mean major or minor or what? Do they even know what they mean?

"We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music

Oh, I get it. They aren't sayng they own E and F, just locrian and phrygian modes. They have a patent on locrian and phrygian modes as played through distorted guitars and they mean to enforce it.

Has there ever been a band that wore black on stage that DIDN'T lean heavy on that transition? This just goes to show that I was right all those years ago when I came to the conclusion that their music was what happens when stupid guys try to pretend they are serious and heavy. And Hammet has no musicality to his playing.

71 posted on 07/16/2003 2:59:55 PM PDT by Yeti
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To: All
GET A CLUE - THIS IS A JOKE!

The url goes to a server which has no connection to mtv.com The page is a spoof page.

http://www1.scoopthis.com/411/met_uf/stc_met_uf_mtv.htm

is not
http://www.mtv.com


no relation
72 posted on 07/16/2003 3:08:26 PM PDT by TheBattman (I was going to write a book titled "100 Uses for a DemocRAT" but I couldn't think of any.)
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To: detsaoT
ThinkDifferent pointed this out to me about 40 posts ago.

I see someone's a little sore.

73 posted on 07/16/2003 7:58:41 PM PDT by tdadams
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To: tdadams
I see someone's a little sore.

Hehehe, not at all, good sir. Just a little miffed that I missed the obvious hoax.

:) ttt

74 posted on 07/17/2003 6:28:46 AM PDT by detsaoT (Socialism Is Bankruptcy - just ask Kalifornia (or The City Of Evil!))
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To: detsaoT; TomServo; EggsAckley; glock rocks; Thane_Banquo; Last Visible Dog
Thought you all might get a laugh out of this.

Somebody else was fooled too...

75 posted on 07/17/2003 7:04:13 AM PDT by Charlie OK
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To: Charlie OK
hotel tango tango papa 404

* poof *
76 posted on 07/17/2003 7:58:28 AM PDT by glock rocks (only YOU can prevent fundraisers -- support Free Republic... become a monthly donor.)
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To: onedoug
There's a loophole in the law there - I can play C as long as I'm at least a quarter-tone out of tune. And I'm always at least a quarter-tone out of tune.
77 posted on 07/17/2003 8:01:52 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill
Too close. Sorry.

You can donate my royalty check to FR, though.

78 posted on 07/17/2003 10:20:34 AM PDT by onedoug
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