In very black metal news, Immortal members Harald "Demonaz" Nævdal and Reidar "Horgh" Horghagen are currently fighting a battle in court over who owns the naming rights to the band's legacy.
You might recall, the duo got in a very public battle with former frontman Abbath, which they had eventually won, but now there is a new conflict according to Norway's VG. Demonaz registered the Immortal name with the Norwegian patent office in July 2019 and was approved and given full rights to license the name.
Horgh said not so fast and appealed the ruling, won the appeal and now Demonaz no longer has the exclusive rights to the name, hence the legal dispute.
Horgh noted to the publication he had no prior knowledge of the registration until recently. "It could never have occurred to me to register the trademark by myself, as Nævdal has done here, but I have found myself having to fight to keep the rights I have earned through a long career in this band," he said. "It is, and after all has been for many years, a large part of my livelihood."
Demonaz pushes back claiming that he is "the band's only remaining original member. I am also the only one who has been on all of the band's releases."
The patent office ultimately ruled the name Immortal belongs to the band as a while. Horgh said "We have jointly as a band built up the trademark Immortal, and it is therefore right that the trademark should be a joint ownership," and despite he and Demonaz only talking through lawyers currently, he said he hopes they can return to the stage again.
Perhaps this would be a good time, then, to take Abbath up on his offer to rejoin Immortal?
[via Blabbermouth]
