"Rock Star" Dispute
In mid-2006, CBS launched the second season of their hit reality television series Rock Star, in which contestants compete to become the lead singer of a featured band. The band that was created for the season, which included musicians Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted, Gilby Clark and Dave Navarro was to be named "Supernova".
On 27 June 2006, the members of the Orange County Supernova filed a lawsuit against CBS, Mark Burnett and Rockstar Entertainment, seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as trademark protection of the "Supernova" name and the destruction of all Rock Star materials bearing the name "Supernova". One of the primary pieces of evidence was a MySpace message from Rock Star producer Butch Walker in which he notes that the defendants had been informed of the existence of a prior band of the same name, but decided to proceed anyway.
The defendants did not believe that the plaintiffs had exclusive and enforceable trademark rights to the band name "Supernova" for a number of reasons, including that the Orange County Supernova band had not performed for years, that they were not the only band who used the name "Supernova", and that their trademark rights had never been very strong.
On 12 September 2006, the judge ruled in favor of the original Supernova, granting their request for a preliminary injunction. The injunction kept the producers and musicians of Rock Star from performing, recording, or selling merchandise under the name "Supernova" pending the outcome of the lawsuit. As a result, the CBS band was simply renamed "Rock Star Supernova". The lawsuit was dropped soon thereafter.
Rock Star Supernova disbanded in 2008 after only two years of performing, releasing a single album to universally negative reviews and commercial disappointment.
Read more about this topic: Supernova (American Band)
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