You know something? Before Frank Zappa died in 1993, he was a lot of things: a tireless tinkerer, a musical adventurer, a trail-blazing perfectionist, an outlandishly innovative band leader, and a caring and, shall we say, ”highly original” husband and father. But you know what? There’s one thing he wasn’t: a good-looking man.
Such trivial physicalities were clearly of no great importance to the German Frank Zappa Fan Club, however, as they have seemingly had no problem using Frank’s name and image in logos and other merchandize products relating to their annual Zappanale Festival since its inception back in 1990. (Umm, now might be a good time to take a moment to remind everyone here just what that hallowed image looks like, probably huh? Yeah. Here you go.)
Recently, however, Frank’s widow Gail and her family trust launched a lawsuit against the German Fan Club over its little annual shindig (which attracted some 6,800 visitors last year), demanding, in particular, the removal of a (get this!) bronze sculpture of Zappa that serves as the centerpiece of the festival site (yeah, let’s go to those visual aids one more time, shall we?) and damages of €250,000 (that’s $325,000) if the festival continues to use the “Zappanale” name.
Unfortunately for, er, everyone, the higher court in Dusseldorf ruled on January 21 that festival organizers may continue to use Zappa's name and his image on the festival logo, as well as on related merchandise products such as t-shirts and baseball caps (I could do this all day!).
It further ruled that Gail Zappa's rights were not violated and that she could not prove she uses the Zappa brand in Germany herself, finding she has had knowledge of the festival since its inception back in the day. Several thousand (presumably blind?) Zappa fans had previously demanded the withdrawal of the lawsuit, which was first launched in April 2008. Thomas Dippel, festival speaker and head of that crazy little bronze-statue-errecting fan club, welcomed the ruling. "We have always been certain that we have the older rights," he said. "We have also patented the name of the festival with the German patent office. Gail Zappa only applied for the patent of her own rights in 2002." So I guess all’s well that ends well, right Frank? Yeeeek... uh, right.
Oh, and FYI: The 2009 edition is scheduled August 12-16. And I bet they serve burnt weenie sandwiches there!
