Verdict Reached In Gorgoroth Name Dispute

Posted by Kevin on Tuesday 10th March, 2009

A decision has been reached in the dispute over the rights to the Gorgoroth band name involving founding guitarist Infernus, vocalist Gaahl and bassist King ov Hell.

A posting on Infernus' MySpace page reads as follows:

"Oslo City District Court has today [Tuesday, March 10] delivered a verdict on the main question in the Gorgoroth trademark case which took place at the end of January 2009. The court has decided that King ov Hell's trademark registration #243365 of the band name Gorgoroth is NOT valid and shall therefore be deleted. The court states that King ov Hell and Gaahl excluded themselves from the band Gorgoroth when they tried to fire Infernus in October 2007. The court further states that Infernus cannot be excluded from Gorgoroth, unless he himself decides to quit. Infernus is very pleased, but not surprised, by this verdict. The remaining issues concerning financial matters and such are yet to be decided upon."

Infernus (real name: Roger Tiegs) filed a lawsuit against King ov Hell (real name: Tom Cato Visnes) in September 2008 claiming that King (the sixth bass player in Gorgoroth's history) went behind his back in September 2007 and secretly applied for trademark protection of the Gorgoroth bandname and logo, which Infernus had been using since 1992.