Last week’s trend of band tension (hi, Jane’s Addiction) propelled another group’s bad blood into public discourse. Today (September 16), Morrissey appears to have called out his former The Smiths bandmate.
In a blog post titled, “The Plot Thickens” (viewable here), Morrissey seeming claimed that Johnny Marr co-opted the legal rights to their famed group behind his back.
“J Marr has successfully applied for 100% trademark rights / Intellectual Property ownership of The Smiths name,” he wrote. “His application has been accepted on whatever oaths or proclamations he has put forward. This action was done without any consultation to Morrissey, and without allowing Morrissey the standard opportunity of ‘objection’. Amongst many other things, this means that Marr can now tour as The Smiths using the vocalist of his choice, and it also prohibits Morrissey from using the name whilst also denying Morrissey considerable financial livelihood.”
He closed the note by declaring that he alone was responsible for the group’s naming. “Morrissey alone created the musical unit name ‘The Smiths’ in May 1982,” he wrote.
Upon search of the UK’s Intellectual Property Office public listings there are two registrants for separate previous ‘The Smiths’ filings. However, an initial search of newly filed and recently awarded trademarks for The Smith did not yield any results. Of the two older registrants, neither appear to be linked to Johnny Marr.
Johnny Marr has not issued a statement regarding Morrissey’s claim.