Kid Rock Suit Dismissed

A federal appeals court has ruled that trademark and copyright infringement claims brought against Kid Rock should be dismissed.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower court ruling January 11th that Kid Rock’s former business associates waited too long to file a lawsuit.

Kid Rock, real name Robert Ritchie, first sued Alvin Williams and Earl Blunt of EB-Bran Productions Inc. in May 2001. He said a 1989 contract that gave EB-Bran sole ownership of the Top Dog trademark and established a partnership with Ritchie was a fraud. Williams and Blunt countersued.

Judge Nancy Edmunds dismissed the countersuit in early 2003, saying that even if EB-Bran did acquire ownership of the trademark in 1989, the company abandoned its interest by not using the TM for at least a decade.

The appeals court agreed, noting that Ritchie wrote a letter to Williams and Blunt in December 1990 stating that he didn’t intend to work with them on his songs.

“The plaintiffs have simply waited too long to bring their action,” the court wrote.

The statute of limitations on federal copyright infringement lawsuits is three years.