Comic_Peddler
10-26-2004, 09:12 PM
From Ananova:
Queen fail to convince court they are British
The three surviving members of Queen have lost a court case concerning copyrights in Germany because they failed to convince the court that they were British citizens.
Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon sued a German record company and its manager after the label granted a licence to a third party to release a 1977 live recording of the song We will rock you.
The band claims the company had no authority to grant the licence.
The band members should be able to sue the company under German law because as EU citizens they must be treated the same as Germans - but the court in Cologne threw out the case and said the three men had not presented "suitable evidence" that they were British.
The musicians presented the court with print-outs off the internet listing their birth places but the court said this does not prove that they are British citizens today.
A court spokesman said they could also not rely on the matter being common knowledge.
He said: "Queen are known in Germany for the musical achievements and not their nationality."
Queen fail to convince court they are British
The three surviving members of Queen have lost a court case concerning copyrights in Germany because they failed to convince the court that they were British citizens.
Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon sued a German record company and its manager after the label granted a licence to a third party to release a 1977 live recording of the song We will rock you.
The band claims the company had no authority to grant the licence.
The band members should be able to sue the company under German law because as EU citizens they must be treated the same as Germans - but the court in Cologne threw out the case and said the three men had not presented "suitable evidence" that they were British.
The musicians presented the court with print-outs off the internet listing their birth places but the court said this does not prove that they are British citizens today.
A court spokesman said they could also not rely on the matter being common knowledge.
He said: "Queen are known in Germany for the musical achievements and not their nationality."