Dear Bonzo Fans 

It has been a long road but finally The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band have successfully defeated abusive writs issued against them by Anglo Atlantic Media Ltd and Director Robert Kirk Carruthers. The victory follows the band’s success in October of 2019 when the Intellectual Property Office ruled that Anglo Atlantic Media Ltd, with Carruthers’ assistance, had registered the band’s name unlawfully.  

The victory, which band members Neil Innes and Martin ‘Sam Spoons’ Ash sadly did not live to see, is also a posthumous victory for founder Bonzo Vivian Stanshall, who passed away in 1995.

Deputy High Court Judge Briggs dismantled the hundreds of pages of irrelevant prolix that Carruthers submitted to the court to substantiate his claim that the band and others had unlawfully conspired to publish malicious falsehoods, misrepresent their right to the name and infringe his trademark. Anglo and Carruthers writs amounted to an attempt to block witnesses statements that had been made as part of the IPO proceedings. In summing up Judge Briggs described the claims as “totally without merit”.

Two writs were pursued against surviving band members Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin-Spear, “Legs” Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bowhay-Nowell. Additionally, the widows of Sam Spoons and Neil Innes and two of the witnesses who gave evidence to the Intellectual Property Office during the Trademark hearing, Richard Allen and Michael Livesley. Neither Mr Livesly or Mr Allen had any stake in the bands name, yet were subjected to the abusive litigation for a period of over two years.

It was only thanks to the assistance of Solicitors Michael Shepherd and Camilla Cokell of Trainer Shepherd  Phillips Melins Hayes LLP and the overwhelming generosity of fans who gave money to a crowdfunding campaign that the band were able to see the case to its conclusion.    

Judge Briggs noted that Carruthers claims not only sought “to make a collateral attack " on a decision made by the Intellectual Property Office but that they also amounted to “an abuse of process” whilst the claim served against the bands witnesses was an affront to the concept of legal privilege  which witnesses enjoy.    

Citing completely unreasonable behaviour by Carruthers that went “far beyond the norm” Judge Briggs also awarded indemnity costs in excess of £50K to the band on a summary basis. He will hear a further application to have the costs charged directly to Carruthers in two weeks.

The Judgment was handed own verbally on the 8th of April but as soon as we have a copy we can publish it will be made available.

“Legs” Larry Smith of the Band noted “the band has suffered monstrous threats, lies and claims that should never have been issued and then allowed to be processed in the first place” whilst Rodney Slater wryly reflected “Victorious and worse off I carry nothing but the scars of two years of tactical, vexatious litigation from legitimately defending what was mine. Don’t try this at home until the law is reformed “. Roger Ruskin Spear added “daft I call it”.

Richard Allen one of the bands witnesses observed “Finding yourself  being sued for fabricated nonsense by someone you have never met or spoken to is incredible enough but I find it even more startling that the claims being made against me were based entirely on my witness statement for an IPO hearing. This is a case where someone weaponised the legal system to intimidate a witness with impunity. Nobody protected me and that cannot be right. I am hoping this is now taken further by the authorities” 

The band with the assistance of Kerry McCarthy MP and The Musicians Union now intend to assist the IPO and Parliament in closing a loophole that allows anyone to appropriate a bands name by paying a £200 fee without having to provide adequate proof of ownership. Similarly, they wish to pursue the issues raised by an attempt to sue witnesses - behaviour that could potentially amount to witness intimidation - and ensure that there are  safeguards for witnesses in the future so that anyone providing a witnesses statement does not find themselves in court faced with enormous legal costs. 

Thank you again courts fans and we hope to see you in December. 

Please also look out for exciting news of an enormous box set filled with unseen footage,  live recordings, demos, outtakes and all of the bands albums and singles in mono and stereo. It will also be packed with reproductions of memorabilia and a hard back book. All material is officially licenced from the rights owners with audio taken from from the master tapes. It will be out some time in 2021 and promises to be the final word on the band.   

Much Love

The Bonzos

Dear Bonzomaniacs

The date for the final ruling on Carruthers bogus writs has been moved and it is now due on the 8th of April at 3pm in front of Deputy High Court Judge, Chief ICC Judge Briggs in the Rolls Building in London.

We look forward to reporting what we hope will be a positive outcome for the band.

Please watch the bands twitter feed  @BonzoDogBanned

Love 

The Bonzos

New Bonzo's Crowdjustice Page Launched! Please help!

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band have won their name back (see Daily Mail here)  but the company responsible for trademarking it has not withdrawn their groundless High Court Writs lodged against the band which we hope will now be struck out. It is unfortunately still costing the band money. 

Please see HERE link for more information 

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band have won their name back (see Daily Mail here)  but the company responsible for trademarking it has not withdrawn their groundless High Court Writs lodged against the band which we hope will now be struck out. It is unfortunately still costing the band money. 

Please see HERE link for more information 

Dear Bonzo Backer

As reported in the Evening Standard the band won back their name.

You can read the Evening Standard article here :

The IPO have published their ruling here :

https://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-challenge-decision-results/o66419.pdf 

Anglo Atlantic Media Ltd and Mr Carruthers may well appeal the IPO ruling but it would appear to be futile given the clarity of their ruling.

The High Court Hearing took place on Thursday the 31st of October. This was to deal with the two separate writs issued by Anglo Atlantic Media Ltd against the band, their representative and some witnesses to the IPO hearing. The writs make accusations of malicious falsehood, unlawful conspiracy to harm, misrepresentation and other groundless allegations. Because the claims were issued in the wrong court there has  to be a second hearing in the correct court. The band expects the writs to be struck out in this next hearing as they rely entirely on Anglo Atlantic Media Ltd's trademark which has now been declared invalid. 

Unfortunately the band has used up the crowdfunding. They had  to hire a specialist law firm and barrister who have worked at reduced rates but even then with something this complex and the fact VAT is included in fees the total bill came to just over £15K which is all of the funding after Crowdjustice have deducted their share. Had the matter been finalised in the hearing on the 31st then it would be over but because of the lodging of the claims in the wrong court there now has to be a second final hearing.  

The band will be announcing their final push campaign shortly.

Meanwhile moves are afoot in Westminster to get the law changed so this nonsense cannot be inflicted on other artists.

Thanks again for your help in what has been a nightmare for the band and those associated with them. 

Much Love 

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band

Dear Backers

The hearing took place on the 5th of September in London. It went well. Without going into too much technical detail the party claiming the name (who previously worked with the band in the capacity of a promoter and record label) claimed three things. Firstly that prior to their involvement in 2006 the band had no goodwill and that the name The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band had fallen into dormancy i.e disuse. They claimed that they revived the name and therefore they were entitled to trade mark it because the goodwill in the name was associated with them. Secondly they argued the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band was entirely different from The Bonzo Dog Band and that there has never been a fixed known lineup of the band that is synonymous with the name of the band. They stated that it has always been a loose aggregation of musicians and not the group of individuals challenging the Trademark (the band members mentioned in the lyrics to The Intro and The Outro). Thirdly it is claimed the band verbally agreed to allow their name to be trademarked and that they were aware of this. The band refutes all of this of course.  A result is expected in mid October. 

A High Court hearing for various allegations - including a conspiracy to harm the trademark holder by unlawfully challenging their trademark -  is due to be heard on the 31st of October after the IPO result. Witnesses who gave evidence to the IPO have also been sued for conspiracy.  

We would like to thank everyone for their support during what has been a very difficult and stressful time. 

Best wishes

The Bonzos 

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of fans we reached the £15K target for the High Court. £20K covers all the bands costs including the IPO hearing on Sept. 5th.   

Due to the incredible generosity of fans we have reached the target to cover the High Court costs but the page will be left open until the end of August if anyone wants to contribute to the costs of the IPO hearing on the 5th of September. The band are humbled by the love and support of their fans. More news will follow as soon as we have it!  Thank you.       

The band are truly overwhelmed by the support from fans which has resulted in reaching the target before the deadline! This target of £15K covers the High Court Costs so anything received above and beyond that will be put towards the costs of challenging the Trademark at the IPO....    A hearing is scheduled for 5th of September 2019.  

Thank you again you wonderful people. Updates will follow!  

Good day everyone,

We hope this finds you safe and well on this glorious English day. As the title states, we are now in the final week of our Crowdfunder to cover our legal bills.

As things stand we still need to raise £2,066 and so we ask those of you who can afford to, to please consider pledging again in order to SAVE THE BONZOS!

As you may have seen the other day there was an excellent article in the latest MOJO Magazine covering our plight and we have also now had a hearing date set by the Intellectual Property Office of September 5th. 

Once that is out of the way they will deliver their ruling within 4-8 weeks and, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, we should once again be able to raise the flag on the good ship Bonzo and - crucially - continue to work with the Musician's Union and Westminster to change the law so that this pernicious loophole, which threatens all artists, is closed once and for all!

News soon, and once again THANK YOU for SAVING THE BONZOS!!

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

On the 5th of September 2019 an official from the Intellectual Property Office will look at the evidence submitted by the band and the trademark registrant to decide if the band owns their name or whether the existing trademark remains in force. At the hearing both sides will put forward their case. Within 4 to 8 weeks after the 5th of September the IPO will make a written ruling that will be made public.  If the band is successful then that will have an impact on the two pending High Court claims for fraud which were lodged against them and some of their witnesses earlier this year. 

We will let you know the outcome. 

Thanks for your continuing support.