Frank Zappa's widow loses battle with German festival

[Farin]

Gail Zappa has failed in her bid to stop Zappanale, a festival celebrating her late husband's work, from using his image and trademark

[smaller]Sean Michaels | guardian.co.uk | Thursday 29 January 2009| Link[/smaller]

Call it a Zappa civil war. Fans, former bandmates and a German festival devoted to Frank Zappa are all trading blows with Gail Zappa, Frank's widow, and her Zappa Family Trust (ZFT).

According to Zappa fansites, the ZFT is on a copyright rampage – taking down YouTube videos, stopping tribute nights and even writing to internet service providers of fans who trade Zappa bootlegs. Prominent members of the Zappa fan community are now sporting "Stop Gail" T-shirts and a petition opposing her has gathered more than 3,000 signatures.

The most recent battleground is the Zappanale, a festival that has for 20 years taken place in the German town of Bad Doberan. At the time of its founding, Zappa albums were illegal in East Germany. Now the three-day event attracts thousands of fans with what organisers describe as "Zappa-esque rock".

The trouble, according to the ZFT, was with the Zappanale's merchandising. T-shirts bearing Zappa-esque facial hair – a soul-patch and moustache – allegedly violated the musician's trademark, and brought on Gail Zappa's legal team. The ZFT sued for €150,000 in damages and a further €250,000 if the Zappanale continued to sell the merchandise.

Thomas Dippel, president of the non-profit Arf Society that organises the festival, insisted that they had been trying for years to get Gail Zappa's approval for the event. When the group unveiled a statue of Zappa in Bad Doberan, he said, they invited the entire Zappa family.

The statue, Gail Zappa told Spiegel Online, is an "impish creature" that "doesn't look like Frank Zappa unless you argue that putting a moustache on any face looks like Frank Zappa". "I've long known that there was this quote-unquote festival slash event slash what the *******," she said. "[but] I felt we were getting into territory where we were putting the audience at risk in terms of who Frank was. You become concerned."

Dippel disagreed. "The reactions we have received are almost all completely furious with Gail Zappa," he told Spiegel Online. "I have the impression that she wants to prevent Zappa music from being played, except by her son. Zappa his whole life long was for artistic freedom. There is a story, though it may not be true, that Zappa on his deathbed said: 'Play my music, whether you're a musician or not, play my music.'"

The courts ultimately agreed with the Zappanale, ruling on 22 January that the FZT did not actively use its trademark in Germany, and that the Zappanale logo was easily distinguishable from Frank Zappa's official one. But Gail Zappa's disputes with the fan community are not over. Besides continuing YouTube take-down notices, the FZT has now forbidden Napoleon Murphy Brock, a former Zappa collaborator, from playing Frank Zappa's songs on his forthcoming tour.

[Steel2Velvet]

".. tax the pennies on your eyes."

This stuff just frosts me.

What about the upgraded incomes from those who were inspired to better themselves as a result of listening to Frank's music? Zappa's "estate" (I don't think he would have liked this sort of legacy) better get a lawsuit going for a piece of all that money too! Plain folks can't celebrate his life's work. We must buy it.

(Think I'll lock the door of my darkened room and put on some Mothers.) Shhh, don't tell anyone....

[Foolonthehill]

I'm glad to read of this.