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Run To Your Lawyers Like a... |
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Friday, 25 August 2006 |
By D. W. O'Dell
 In the words of the immortal Bard, “He who steals my purse steals trash, but he who steals the title of my CD takes from me something that makes me poor indeed.” Or something like that.
The intersection of entertainment and litigation saw another milestone with the filing of a lawsuit by the singer commonly known as Meat Loaf, against the man who wrote his biggest hits, Jim Steinman. The subject of the suit? Ownership of the phrase, “Bat out of Hell.”
The phrase is, of course, the title of the 1974 album (for you kids out there, CDs hadn’t been invented yet; people listened to music on large vinyl platters called “records” that were played on a “turntable.” Ask your grandparents.) that made Meat Loaf the most well known entrée in rock history. Containing classic songs like “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” the record explored new directions in music. It was a tough sell to record executives because the musical style didn’t fit into any conceivable genre (Wikipedia defines the genre as Wagnerian Rock, which is as good a definition as anything).
It was also the biggest collaboration between a songwriter and singer since Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach teamed up (kids, again, ask your grandparents). While singers sometimes co-write the songs they sing with a collaborator (e.g. Elton John and Bernie Taupin), the Meat Loaf/Steinman team was that of a songwriter and the artist who could best interpret his work. Meat Loaf’s singing of songs written by others fell flat, and while Steinman had hits with other singers, such as Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Meat Loaf was always the voice that could best project the power in his lyrics.
Never as successful apart as they were together, Steinman and Meat Loaf reunited for Bat Out of Hell 2: Back Into Hell nearly 20 years after their initial success. The number one song, “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” proved that the team could once again hit the top (although, to me, the song never really explained what, exactly, the singer wouldn’t do for love).
Another decade passed without much success for either Meat Loaf or Steinman, and so naturally Bat Out Of Hell 3 is in the works. At least, Meat Loaf is working on it; Steinman is not associated with the project. But he does own the trademark to the phrase “Bat out of Hell,” which has prompted Meat Loaf to sue Steinman to clear up the rights to the phrase. He claims he’d used the phrase for 29 years before Steinman trademarked it as his own.
This leaves me kicking myself. I could have trademarked the phrase “Bat out of Hell” and made a fortune. Maybe I should head down to the trademark office and start filing some papers. I hereby claim ownership of the following phrases: “made in the shade,” “baker’s dozen,” “hot enough for you?“ and “that’s the way the cookie crumbles.” Next week I’ll trademark the numbers 1 through 9 and sue the telephone company for plagiarism.
I seem to recall someone tried to trademark the phrase “Let’s roll” after it was used on Flight 93. I’m not sure if they were successful, and I haven’t seen the recent film about that flight to see if the end credits included, “Special thanks for permission to use ‘Let’s roll’ in our script.”
I suppose there have been sillier lawsuits over the years; far, far sillier in fact. But suing over the ownership of a phrase that has been in common usage since who knows when? What next? Musicians claiming to own certain chords? Authors owning certain combinations of letters? I think Meat Loaf is making a mistake if he thinks fans of the first two albums will be fooled into thinking Steinman is again collaborating with him just because of the title. I think it is in Meat Loaf’s interest to preserve the value that has been created by the first two albums and only use the phrase “Bat Out Of Hell” in albums made with Jim Steinman.
But that’s just my opinion; I’m sure Meat Loaf’s lawyers would advise him otherwise. |
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