LimeWire Music Blog

Sometimes it’s nice to see the forces of good defeat the dark side. It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, a celebration is in order. What’s the occasion? Well, remember when we reported, last week, that the family of Bradley Nowell has taken legal action to prevent his Sublime bandmates from reuniting under the group’s original name? Well, it looks like Nowell’s estate is on the right side of the law: A Los Angeles judge has granted a preliminary injunction preventing Eric Wilson, Bud Gaugh and new frontman Rome Ramirez from calling themselves “Sublime.”

According to Billboard, the injunction prevents the trio from doing any of the following:

• Using the “Sublime” name and trademark (or anything similar) in connection with any live performances or “musical sound recordings;”
• Using the “Sublime” name or trademark on any clothing, posters, books related to music, calendars, decals or stickers;
• Using any Internet domain name containing the “Sublime” name or trademark, or any other confusingly similar domain name.

Because the judge’s injunction is preliminary, it hinges on the family posting a bond of $125,000 in the event that a later court determines the surviving Sublime members to have suffered damages. The Los Angeles Times reports that Jeremiah Reynolds, who represents the estate, affirms that the Nowells will pay and had this to say about the ruling: “The point we tried to make is that we encourage these gentlemen to go out and play… We think they’re great musicians. We just don’t think it’s appropriate to call a group that doesn’t have Bradley and has a new lead singer Sublime. It’s consistent with Brad’s intentions that we seek to protect the name. The court agreed that Bud and Eric and the new lead singer didn’t have the right to go out and call themselves Sublime.” Sounds fair to me!