Ratt Wins ‘Final’ Round of Legal Fight With Bobby Blotzer
The long battle over Ratt’s name appears to finally be over after a court dismissed former drummer Bobby Blotzer’s counterclaims and forbade further relitigation.
In 2016, frontman Stephen Pearcy and bassist Juan Croucier formed a new lineup and claimed ownership of the trademark rights, which led to a show by Blotzer's own lineup being abruptly cancelled. Blotzer, who had been prevented from using the band name, insisted that the matter had not been resolved. A 2017 ruling went against him, but he’d continued action.
The Northern California Record reported that, last month, a Californian district court entered a judgment in favor of Pearcy and Croucier, granting their application for summary adjudication and to dismiss Blotzer’s claims.
The court, under U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson, said in its ruling, “[Blotzer’s] WBS alleged that Croucier and Pearcy infringed upon the RATT trademarks… no reasonable trier of fact could conclude that the RATT partnership had assigned ownership of the RATT marks to WBS, and thus WBS could not show any ownership rights in the marks.”
Addressing Blotzer’s latest bid to win back the title, the judge wrote, “the RATT partnership contends that Blotzer and WBS already litigated, and lost, the issue of trademark ownership… and that defendants [Blotzer] are therefore barred from contesting that issue again in this action. Although in the instant suit, defendants attempt to raise a new theory of ownership of the RATT marks, the issue of trademark ownership, even under common law theories, could have been, and was, litigated to final judgment in the prior actions. Defendants [Blotzer] may not relitigate that question again here.”