On Tuesday, March 4th, lawyers for Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain of Journey filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Contra Costa County, California, alleging that Smith and Valory tried to launch “a coup to assume control of one of the band’s corporate entities, Nightmare Productions, Inc.”
The suit claims that Smith and Valory incorrectly believed that controlling Nightmare Productions would allow them to gain control of the Journey mark, thus providing them “windfall payments in the millions of dollars… after their retirement.” long-time bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith have since been fired from the band.
The suit calls Smith and Valory’s alleged scheme “not only malicious but also very ill-conceived.” It states that Nightmare Productions does not control the Journey name, but that Nightmare Productions granted an “exclusive, irrevocable license of the Journey Mark” to another band entity, Elmo Partners, which was started by Cain, Schon and former lead singer, Steve Perry. Nightmare Productions purportedly granted Elmo Partners the exclusive license to the Journey trademark back in 1985; when Perry left the band in 1998, he signed an agreement allowing Cain and Schon to keep recording and touring under the Journey name.
We’ll just have to wait and see how this messy lawsuit pans out.
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