In Canada, there's a band called Sandman that prides itself on being "Canada's best tribute to Metallica." Unfortunately, Sandman utilizes a logo scheme that is entirely too close to Metallica's and the band's legal team is having none of that.
Update: Metallica have canceled the cease and desist and have blamed the mixup on an overzealous attorney. Read their statement here.
Aux.tv caught wind of the situation and found out that the band's legal team had issued a 41-page cease and desist to Sandman regarding the use of the logo… and that makes perfect sense.
Before you get up in arms crying out "MONEY GRUBBING SELLOUTS" at your computer, think about it- Metallica is a business. Would you want someone running around using your likeness and making money off it? I'm sure if someone did something similar with say, Apple or Coca Cola, they wouldn't get away with it either.
Plus, this isn't the first time the band has rightfully defended its own brand. Metallica has sued Victoria's Secret in the past for using its name on lip pencils without authorization in 1999 and a wheel company that named its wheels Metallica in 2001, for example, because it's their copyrighted brand. That's what copyright is for, right? To have the thing that's your be yours without someone stealing it?
There's also the fact that if you let someone use your likeness, or name, or whatever, then people assume you're allowing it to happen. What if Sandman uses Metallica's logo, people think Metallica endorses it and then Sandman does something batshit insane, or racist, or illegal? Now Metallica is inadvertently roped into the situation.
Not to mention Metallica isn't even seeking money or damages here. They're just asking Sandman to stop using their logos. It seems reasonable to me.
Metallica are currently in the studio hard at work on the follow-up to Death Magnetic. They have been teasing a few riffs from the studio in video updates.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFeNVKcHcU[/youtube]
