Gorgoroth name dispute
The parties to the dispute were band founder Infernus (Roger Tiegs) and members Gaahl (Kristian Espedal) and King ov Hell (Tom Cato Visnes).
The band was signed to the major German heavy metal record label Nuclear Blast after being approached by them on their headlining European tour in 1997.
Bassist King ov Hell joined the band in 1999 and made his studio debut on Incipit Satan (2000), which was also the first Gorgoroth album to feature Gaahl as the main vocalist.
Although Infernus contributed little material to Twilight of the Idols and none to Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam, he conceived the titles of the albums, rooted in his Satanism and his influences by Friedrich Nietzsche.
[12] Publicly, Gaahl and King cited multiple reasons behind their decision to exclude founding member Infernus and work under the name Gorgoroth.
[13] Their decision had been made by summer 2007, and it was in September that King — with the assistance of Anders Odden of Cadaver and Satyricon — filed a trademark application to Patentstyret for the name and logo of Gorgoroth.
7., were cited in Infernus' favour throughout the dispute and determined the eventually concluded illegality and invalidity of King's trademark application, which also failed to satisfy § 8.:[9][17][18][19] § 2.
[4] In September 2007, King, with the assistance of Anders Odden from Cadaver and Satyrion, filed a trademark application to Patenstyret for the name and logo of Gorgoroth.
[14] Infernus' attorney Egil Horstad of Vogt & Wiig warned Gaahl and King that this application was in abrogration of select sections of the Patentstyret Trademark Act.
"[27] A week later, Gaahl and King delivered a statement claiming that it had been "legally determined" by the Norwegian patent office that they retained "the rightful ownership and use of the name and logo, now and in the future.
[26] The statement also declared that Gaahl and King had severed ties with Regain Records for "their disloyal acts" and were "carefully choosing a new label for the release of their next full-length album.
[29] In March 2008, Infernus announced that he hired an additional lawyer - Kate I Lohren of Onsagers AS - and made a non-negotiable offer to Gaahl and King with a three-day deadline.
[30] The offer was not accepted and Infernus then declared that his attorney would appeal the Norwegian Patent Office decision and "commence legal proceedings in order to have the matter handled by the courts.
[36] On August 12, 2008, Infernus issued a statement saying that the Gorgoroth trademark matter would not be decided until a verdict was made in a yet to be announced trial in Oslo, Norway, and that the conflict between Regain Records and Gaahl/King ov Hell about True Norwegian Black Metal - Live in Grieghallen would be decided in another to-be-announced trial in Malmö, Sweden; until then, a temporary injunction has stopped Regain Records from promoting and distributing the album.
[37] Gaahl and King ov Hell stated that they would be entering the studio on August 25 to record a new album featuring Teloch as well as Ice Dale of Enslaved on guitars, and Frost of Satyricon and 1349 (who was also at different points a full-time and session member of Gorgoroth) on drums.
[39] However, in December 2008 when interviewed by Faceculture, Gaahl implied that he had not yet worked on lyrics and vocal arrangements and intended to do so at some point after the completion of his band's European tour with Cradle of Filth.
[42]On December 1, 2008, it was announced on Infernus' official Gorgoroth website that a trial date was scheduled in Oslo, Norway and would take place in the last week of January 2009.
[46] On June 2, 2009, an article in the Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv revealed that the remaining issues in Infernus' lawsuit had been agreed upon by the two parties, and that a settlement had been made.
In the same article, King and Gaahl's lawyer, Lars Christian Fjeldstad, confirmed that the verdict concerning the trademark registration was final — meaning it cannot be appealed — and that a settlement had been made regarding the remaining issues of the lawsuit.
