When an artist adored by thousands passes, most, including friends and family, simply want to grieve and celebrate their legacy with their art. Unfortunately, more often than not legal drama ensues and only adds to the music world’s grief. So is the case with Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland.
Today it was reported that the children of Weiland have had multiple lawsuits filed on their behalf over the alleged unauthorized use of their father’s name to sell merchandise. Weiland’s former wife Mary Weiland was the one to file the lawsuits in the name of their two children. Weiland’s 16-year-old son Noah and 15-year-old daughter Lucy named Merchabr Inc., RageOn! Inc., OldGlory.com, Red Fox Ink and Officially Licensed Gear in the two suits for unauthorized use of Weiland’s name to sell merchandise. The suits were filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, and seek unspecified damages and a court order “enjoining” the companies from continuing the sale of Weiland merchandise without the plaintiffs’ consent.
Weiland’s children own all rights publicly associated with their father, according to the suit. The children claim that the named companies used their father’s photo and likeness more than “100 times” to sell a variety of merchandise including clothing, household items, cell phone cases and a “children’s set of stackable wooden blocks.”
As of right now, it appears that no court date has been set yet, although more details will be sure to follow. For those living under a rock, Scott Weiland was the legendary frontman for two legendary bands, Stone Temple Pilots (which he was a founding member of) and Velvet Revolver. He was found unresponsive on his tour bus before a show in December of 2015. It was later determined that he had died from an accidental overdose of cocaine, alcohol and MDA.
It was recently reported in May that final recordings of Weiland might be released as a new album.
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