Good Times, Bad Times Continue For Classic-Rock Archive

Late last year, the members of Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Grateful Dead, and Santana filed an intellectual-property lawsuit against Wolfgang’s Vault, a website that offers live-concert downloads from the archives of the late Bill Graham. The Vault has now filed a countersuit against the band members and their labels (Warner Music Group and Sony BMG), alleging that the crackdown is unfair:

“Far from being about bootlegging, consumer confusion or infringement of any sort, this case is actually a blatant attempt by two of the largest record labels in the world — using artists as a front — to secure new income streams and destroy a legitimate business,” the suit says.

It also alleges that the two record companies unsuccessfully sought to negotiate licenses to the concert footage, and when that was not possible, “conspired with each other to concoct fictitious legal claims in an effort to appropriate for themselves the use of musical recordings through an abuse of this judicial process.”

The Wolfgang countersuit also claims that the labels are guilty of having “unclean hands,” which no doubt caused a few confused Grateful Dead reps to glance at their fingernails with embarrassment. And while we’re eager to see how this case shakes out–especially if goes to court, where the Vault’s lawyers will have to prove that “conspiracy” claim–we can’t help but think that if Graham were still alive, he’d simply barge into the conference room and threaten to smack the crap out of Ray Manzarek, thus ending the whole debate in about five minutes.

Rock archive web site countersues bands, labels [Reuters via BrooklynVegan]