SLAYER Files Lawsuit To Stop Counterfeit Merchandise

SLAYER‘s merchandising company has filed a lawsuit to get a judge’s order that it can use to direct federal marshals, and authorize local and state police and agents hired by the company to seize bootleg T-shirts and similar items during the band’s farewell tour.

Global Merchandising Services asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to order local law enforcement to crack down on the bootleggers selling merchandise outside San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center on May 10. Slayer, formed in 1981, announced this will be their last tour of 2018, with dates in North American and Europe.

The complaint went on to note that “more than $25 million worth of licensed merchandise bearing the SLAYER name, trademark, logos and/or likenesses have been sold” to date.

In August 2010, Live Nation filed a lawsuit against several “John Does” in advance of that month’s Ozzfest in Devore, California. (“John Doe” is a term used in lawsuits for individuals whose actual names are not yet known.) Live Nation was attempting to get a court order that would have federal and local law enforcement authorities seize and impound trademark-infringing gear at Ozzy Osbourne‘s travelling festival. AC/DC filed a similar suit ahead of its 2016 U.S. tour.n