Slash & Duff to sue Axl!

[Naupis]

Well.....if he really signed a document that says effective Dec 30, 1995 that he was leaving the partnership (and that is the document they claim they have) that sounds like signing away your rights in a decision making process. I mean that would be like Bill Gates resigning from the board at Microsoft, he might still own a part of the company(as Axl does still own part of those properties owned by the partnership) but he loses all veto powers by resigning from the company. That is effectively what Axl did by leaving the partnership if what those guys are saying they can prove is true.

I agree, if there really is a paper trail that can prove this he is beyond retarded, but to be honest, nothing surprises me anymore. Maybe he figured owning the name was enough and thought that would be all he needed when he left the original GNR partnership.

[SunKing278]

That is the issue, they are claiming he has been doing things legally he wasn't able to do in regards to the partnership and thats why their suing him. Maybe after seeing how well greatest hits was doing they had a lawyer look over the old contracts and they realized they had a case with some merit that they never even realized. They aren't rocket scientists exactly, and I am going to go out on a limb and say they had no idea really until a lawyer pointed out to them that by him withdrawing from the partnership, that he actually forfeited those control rights. Like has been said, if the paper trail proves its true, he is totally screwed.

Naupis, I think you are on the mark here.  The truth of the matter is that the years 1993 to the early part of this decade are a total loss as far as the members of GNR go.  Their lives were just too fucked up to focus all that much on music.  If Slash and Duff - admittedly not the world's smartest men, sorry guys - are only realizing they had a legitimate argument now, then better late than never.  

Stupid Axl, all he has to do is CHANGE THE NAME OF THE BAND.  The point of the whole thing is this - GUNS N' ROSES IS DEAD, LONG LIVE GUNS N' ROSES.

This is just so uncool for Slash and Duff to put up with being screwed out of royalties out of Axl's childish spite for them.  For the sake of GNR fans, for the sake of their legacy, these two men finally came to the conclusion they had to save the name of Guns N' Roses somehow for this disaster called Chinese Democracy.  Sure, they're going to reap rewards, but they earned it, for Christ's sakes.  It was their blood, sweat and tears.  Money is a big factor, but it couldn?t possibly be the only thing driving this.  Please, Axl-ites, do not hate these men because they seek their fair share.  If you were getting screwed like this, anyone of you would do exactly the same thing.

[Eva GnRAxlRosette]

From snakepit.org Slash's official site
last updated April 2004



www.snakepit.org

[Booker Floyd]

Thanks for informing us that Slash is no longer in GNR, your deft detective-work is much appreciated.  

By the way, thats not Slashs official site (I believe that would be SlashOnline.com), its an authorized fan site.

[Mattgnr]

Thanks for informing us that Slash is no longer in GNR, your deft detective-work is much appreciated.  

By the way, thats not Slashs official site (I believe that would be SlashOnline.com), its an authorized fan site.

LOL  

Well now we all know this - matter closed.

[SLCPUNK]

This may be a bank breaker for Axl. Maybe. Remember also in legal fights the one with the most money is usually the winner. Lawyers will suck you dry and often times people have to back down if things are drawn out too long for them. So I would think that Axl has an advantage.

Axl may be a smart guy, but there are some smart lawyers out there too.

IMHO it doesn't sound to good for Axl, from what is presented on this forum.

[killingvector]

The stakes are huge here. Duff and Slash are suing for

1. lost monies from licensing deals that axl shot down
2. share of monies from Real Cancun that axl took for licensing PC  that he didnt not share
3. share of monies totally 6 million in royalties not shared
4. punitive damages and determent monies b/c axl unlawfully acted as executer of the old GnR partnership


it's not a 1 million lawsuit, it is left openended with a potential of exploding into several millions of dollars. I dont' see how axl could pay this off if he loses.

[Naupis]

He would just have to release multiple albums and hope they sell to raise the kind of cash he may need. Because the punitive damages could potentially be outrageous.

[killingvector]

Axl will dispute that HE left the band i would imagine. I also recall it being said that axl paid out the old members for their shares of the band. If slash and duff accepted monies for their shares then it doesn't matter if he left or not because he would have effectively bought them out. it will be interesting to see if those two fuzzy addicts ever accepted a buy out at any point.

[yagami1gnr]

Well, for the parts that I have read so far, Slash and duff state that they are the only remainig members of guns n' roses, and this part is not only stated once but many times until the page 7. What could it mean?
so here are my points:
If they are the remaining members, they should own the name, don' they, or atleast that seems one of the things what they are fighting for?

If GNR is treated like a company or "General Partnership" then everything that is done by the company ("GNR") they will have the control to use it, in that case:

if the new songs are considered GNR songs or signed under the name of the company, wouldn't they control all those songs?

why they keep calling "Original GNR", if this is supposed to be a "General Partnership" or a company, and also since they own the name and remember Axl left and he doesn't have the rights to use that name?

Peace

[gezm]

In Time slash and duff will own the gnr name and all axls fucked aroudn so much with the name and lieing and shit about time thay put him right   well done lads  

[madagas]

Wrong. The lawsuit says 1. Slash and Duff should have all the  decision making ability for the Original Gnr partnership-Axl gave up his rights in 1995 by opting out of the partnership. Axl still owns the name and can use it, but he does NOT have a right to make all the decisions on the back catalog. He has no rights according to Slash because he opted out of the partnership. 2. The unnamed defendants 1-40 is  a way for the attorney to add future defendants to the suit if discovery reveals more parties at fault-Axl's management, Beta, who the hell knows. THIS IS A MAJOR POWER PLAY ON THE PART OF SLASH AND DUFF. This dispute is over way more than a million dollars.

[younggunner]

"People have worked very, very hard, my former friends, in order for me not be here today"

[madagas]

Youngun, you need to realize that Axl is a spiteful, vindictive guy as well. This is a mess with EVERYONE at fault. This shit needed to happen and has to ultimately be sorted out before any of the back catalog unreleased stuff/box sets/etc can be released. This also may disturb the current relationship between "GNR" the entity and Geffen. It is truly "on" boys and girls.

[K-Rock]

Comical.............verrryyyyyyy comical.  AxL, Slash & Duff are 3 peas in a whiney, bitchy pod.  Defending one against the other is like comparing apples to apples, dust to dust.


Be sure to waste your time at the dull-ass 3-ring circus........

[madagas]

The next interesting document will be Axl's Answer to the Complaint. He will probably have 30 days or so to respond unless he gets an extension from the plaintiff's (doubtful). Hopefully, we will have access to his Answer.

[Naupis]

The problem with this whole thing is that it is entirely too personal. Slash/Duff and the others have been openly against Axl's continued use of the name even though he owns it. Now that they might have a way to really hurt him (both emotionally as losing control would just eat him alive, and econmically as the amount of punitive damages awarded to Slash/Duff for 9 years of this would be astromnomical) they are going to do everything in their power to do so to get revenge against him. I honestly believe he would not have half of the problems, both image wise and litigous if he would just let the damn name go. He always talks about how its never really been done like this before, and all the problems he is having is reasons 1 through a million why it hasn't. Slash and Duff are no angels in this as they are certainly out for blood at this point, but the thing that got this so personal is that damn name. We will always think of Axl as GNR regardless, but he could easily make it on his own without the name because essentially, this band is GNR in name only. GNR is, was and always will be Izzy/Duff/Steve/Axl and Slash. Saying otherwise is like 2 + 2= 5. You can believe that if you want, but a tiger doesn't change his stripes. I just hate that things had to get like this as I had always hoped for a true reunion at some point down the road and that is certainly never going to happen now.

[madagas]

Naupis, you are exactly right. A comparable scenario to Axl could be Ozzy. Axl could make it on his own with this new band. Especially, if he could have kept and primarily featured Buckethead. Bucket would have been Axl's Randy Rhoades and people would have dug it. The whole thing is fucked up now because of Geffen's funding of a "GNR" project. They are going to want to release Chinese under the Gnr brand for a multitude of reasons.

[killingvector]

i really had thought axl had paid out the old members for his taking control of GnR. i really thought he had control over the catalog, films, and what not.

[Naupis]

From what it sounds like in the Brief, He did pay them for use of the name. But the partnership is what owns and makes the decisions based on the back catalog, licensing and other whatnot. By legally pulling out of that as he did, he gave up all veto and decision making authority he previously had by being a partner in it. He will still monetarily recieve what his share, but the killer to him is he will lose any say in the decision as to what is used by whom, because he is not part of the decision making process of the Original GNR partnership.

He did take control of the name and can market it and do with it what he pleases, and the others were paid for that. From the sounds of it though, maybe Axl didn't realize by pulling out of the partnership, he was forfeiting certain controls he assumed he would have just because he owned the name. It will certainly be intersting to see how he answers the suit, and we already have a no comment from his management team so there are certainly be careful as they go forward or they would have already referred to this as "frivilous".