Steve Perry Withdraws Lawsuit Against Journey Over Band’s Trademarks
Former Journey frontman Steve Perry has withdrawn his lawsuit against his ex-bandmates over the trademarks to 20 of the group’s biggest songs.
In Sept. 2022, Perry, who permanently exited the band in 1998, filed legal papers to prevent Freedom JN LLC — a company headed by Journey’s Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain which holds the Journey trademarks — from using those trademarks on apparel and other merchandise.
Perry claimed that he, Cain and Schon had an agreement that required unanimous consent for any business decision related to the trademarks and that he had not authorized said consent. Perry went on to accuse the duo of “fraud on the trademark office” by what he claims is inaccurate information about the trademark.
However, Schon took to Twitter Friday night to reveal that Perry had filed to withdrawn the lawsuit earlier that day, with the guitarist sharing the cancellation filing as evidence. When asked directly if Perry pulled the lawsuit, Schon responded, “Yes he did. Now we can talk as we were.”
Schon — who has been entangled in a lengthy legal battle with Cain, from bickering over the use of the band’s credit card to cease-and-desists — blamed Perry’s filing of the lawsuit on Cain, tweeting Friday, “So much for [Cain] trying to throw me under the bus as he claimed I was blatantly trying to rip off [Perry] while collecting the checks for the very diligent work my wife and I did to protect our Merch.”
Reps for Cain, Schon and Perry did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment as press time.
In December, Schon filed a cease-and-desist against Cain to prevent the latter from performing their hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” at Mar-a-Lago; a month earlier, Cain performed the band’s 1981 hit at an event at Donald Trump’s country club alongside backup singers that included Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Kari Lake. (Cain’s wife Paula White, a televangelist, serves as Trump’s spiritual advisor.)
Going back to 2021, Schon and Cain were on the same side when they faced off against bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith after those former members allegedly tried to fund their retirement by wresting control of the band’s name; an “amicable settlement” was reached in that lawsuit.
Somehow, despite all the in-fighting between the longtime bandmates, Journey — with Schon and Cain in tow — will put their differences aside when the band embarks on their Freedom Tour starting Jan. 27 in Durant, Oklahoma. When asked by a fan on Twitter how the duo could possibly perform together amid the tumultuous legal situation, Schon responded, “We’ve written great music… Channel the great music. Honor it.”
Schon also noted that Santana and original Journey keyboardist/lead singer Gregg Rolie would rejoin the band for the first time in 43 years for the upcoming tour; upon Rolie’s exit in 1980, Cain joined the lineup, and has remained a member alongside Schon ever since. (However, as Schon posted on Facebook, even Rolie’s involvement could result in more legal issues.)
