Public Image Limited are taking over ! Oh wait...

Bad times in the building industry - Rotten thinking about a PiL reunion?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1384711.ece

It will never happen.

Seen those "FiL" property signs around...

“So much of London’s new buildings are absolute bloody rubbish. They should tear them all down. I’m starting to know what Prince Charles feels like. That’s a worry.”

From their website:

© FiLGROUP Ltd. All intellectual property rights in any materials on this website remain the sole property of FiLGROUP Ltd unless expressly stated otherwise.

Is the original PiL logo trademarked? It must be.

Isn't Lydon actually involved in real estate development in CA?

Maybe it isn't trademarked & that's why they can do it?
Maybe it's only trademarked for the music/entertainment industry & building isn't in competition with that?
Maybe negative is enough to be different?

There is a building company in my neck of the woods called BRICK FLAIR

Needless to say, JohnLydon.com did not get back to me on this.

..however, I have just found this on

As we previously stated, John Lydon / Public Image Limited have absolutely nothing to do with "Fulham Investments Limited".


Local Guardian
October 9th 2007

Mr Lawson said his PiL homage got some celebrity comment. He said: "We actually sent a copy of the FiL logo to John Lydon's website. He laughed at it, saying the PiL logo had been often imitated, but never bettered."


You never sent us anything.

Thievery is no laughing matter. In fact, it's a lazy insult.

Your Fake Image will be Limited. No joke.

Collectively I think we have the skills to judge if this is a lazy insult or not

That should have said..

..however, I have just found this on http://www.johnlydon.com/jlbollocks.html

Grain of salt: what I know is about US law, though similar principles presumably govern the British courts.

Maybe it isn't trademarked & that's why they can do it?

Seems unlikely: John Lydon is pretty well known for having a keen eye on his own financial interests. More likely is that "they can do it" because he hasn't gotten around to suing them for it. One risk is that he might eventually lose his shot at suing under the doctrine of laches, which says you can't unreasonably delay asserting your rights. Looks like he's known about FiL since at least 2006, and if he thinks they're infringing his mark, he's got to ask them to cut it out (if he hasn't already). Otherwise FiL can argue that Lydon hurt them by allowing them to build up good will associated with their FiL mark. This is one reason why cease-and-desist letters are so popular. (Here's the story of how the great Wailers (from the Pacific Northwest) lost a trademark infringement claim against the great Wailers from Jamaica in part on the basis of laches: http://seattletrademarklawyer.com/blog/2008/1/4/laches-bars-infringement-suit-by-wailers-tacoma-against-wail.html)

Maybe it's only trademarked for the music/entertainment industry & building isn't in competition with that?

Not required. If people are likely to think that Lydon licensed the insignia to FiL or is otherwise affiliated with them, and perhaps think less of him/buy less of his music as a result, he could show that the use of the mark harms his interests. This sort of confusing similarity should be easy enough to prove (for example, the site linked to by Lydon: http://nemesis-to-go.livejournal.com/15044.html)

Maybe negative is enough to be different?

Doubtful, though this would have to be argued before a judge - there's no bright line principle I know of that says how close a mark has to look like a previous mark before it's infringement.

thanks for that clarification, dad a!

yeah.

And the 'negative' version does not hold: it's the b-side label of all the Metal Box discs.

Anyways, The Debut album is coming out as a "Deluxe" 2CD edition.

However, before anyone gets too excited:

CD 1
1. “Theme”
2. “Religion I”
3. “Religion II”
4. “Annalisa”
5. “Public Image”
6. “Low Life”
7. “Attack”
8. “Fodderstompf”

CD 2
1. “The Cowboy Song”
2. Interview With John Lydon – BBC Radio 1, Rock On, Oct. 28, 1978

So, as you were....

i was hoping for an extended "Fodderstompf". hmph.

well, the missing 'us' re_recording, 'You Stupid Person' and the real 'Cowboy Song' and so on...

I know the record industry keeps trying to sell us back what we already own but this is really quite lazy.

OK, so JOhn L is looking to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXwB0HqZDXg

I mean, nice but...

since lydon first became a name he's been toying with -- sometimes embracing, sometimes not -- the idea that he's irish rather than english

(his mum and dad were both born in ireland and i read this morning that he now travels on an irish passport, tho i've no idea if this is true or not) (or indeed relevant)

It's right there in the autobiography title tbf

if he's awful enough to be part of the fake Irish community then so am I - Yes I am!

time for you to write several autobiographies with various titles

I've not really lived, I've never scratched fingernail dirt onto a junky's needle in the hope it gives them hep c

i really like "Hawaii" very pretty and melancholy, kind of formless

doesn't scream "Eurovision" exactly

Brexit supporters should be banned from Eurovision.

So, the "US re-recording" of the first album is coming out for Record Store Day this year.

Huh, never knew this was a thing. I wonder just how different it is.

god the 21st century is awesome

I looked this up and apprently it came out in 2013 on light in the attic. That’s who is credited with the version on streaming now… my memory of the CD is foggy enough that I can’t tell if the streaming version is the same.

it came out in 2013 on light in the attic

that was just the original album being released in the US for the first time.

I remember they redid some early songs in late 80s "college rock" era - I have heard a bad redo of The Suit I think

is this that or something different?

proper reissue for Commercial Zone is pretty fuckin overdue!

I remember they redid some early songs in late 80s "college rock" era

That is something different.

What this is: Warner Bros deemed their first album too abrasive for US release and requested changes. The band re-recorded/remixed the album but the results were never released. The RSD version is those re-recordings.

A little more info.

Huh maybe I have some dim memory of this from that Omnibus press bio - well anything from that lineup is gold!

Thx for info!

have heard a bad redo of The Suit I think

The late 80s band re-recorded some early tracks for a proposed album to be called Renovations. Only "Religion" and "The Suit" were released, as b-sides.

ah, so this doesn't have Religion I or II on it, which is not a huge loss

Hey I like those late 80s versions, they're radically different but still fun!

I saw Lydon's doing a This Is Not The Last Tour, which I assume means it is the last tour, but I've just checked and my inclination to go is basically negative

These are the re-recording & remixes Warners made them do in the spring of '79 & then scrapped, probably becuz the remixes & new recordings didn't sound that much less abrasive, assuming this is David Humphreys on drums. I vaguely remember reading about it, but it was always unclear if ever even happened given per below Wobble doesn't remember doing them, but also keep in mind they were so stoned they easily could have forgot doing it

From the always helpful Fodderstompf site https://www.fodderstompf.com/CHRONOLOGY/1979.html

Late February-April: According to press reports the band have began to re-record and remix the 'First Issue' album for their American label Warner Brothers (PiL later confirm this on US radio the following year). Warner's are said to be unhappy with the sound quality of the original UK album, and the fact PiL wont travel to the US to tour. Although the original album wasn't released in the USA Warner Brothers did do a test-pressing – dated February 9th 1979 – which presumably prompted their request for a new mix.

The only track to ever surface from this scrapped project appears to be the re-recorded version of 'Fodderstompf' on the B-side of the 'Death Disco' 12" single (titled as 'Megga-Mix')... Years later Jah Wobble comments he can't remember re-recording the album and thinks it highly unlikely it ever was, however, drummer David Humphrey claims one of his first tasks was to play on re-recorded tracks from the first album, using the record as a guide... As well as 'Fodderstompf' some of the tracks worked on include 'Annalisa' and an unsuccessful attempt at 'Public Image'. David Humphrey recalls Lydon commenting, "Well, that was crap wasn't it!"

It is totally fucking great btw, just about every song has some re-recorded element, mix is totally different, not better or worse but a completely alternate vers

finally getting around to this and yeah! great listen, better than i had been led to expect, exciting hearing familiar songs with weird differences - no idea how this was meant to make it more palatable for the US market but it is a real treat hearing anything new from this era