Scott Weiland Countersues Stone Temple Pilots
Scott Weiland has struck back against Stone Temple Pilots, filing a countersuit last Friday against his former band. Earlier in May, Stone Temple Pilots sued their former singer accusing him of misusing the band’s name to further his solo work and requested that a judge block him from using the group’s name and catalog. Weiland is seeking at least $5 million in compensatory damages, and says his former bandmates conspired against him.
“How do you expel a man from a band that he started, named, sang lead on every song, wrote the lyrics and was the face of for 20 years, and then try to grab the name and goodwill for yourselves?” Weiland’s complaint reads. “You don’t, but three of the instrumentalists from the band ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ (the ‘Band’) tried.”
Stone Temple Pilots Sue Scott Weiland
As evidence, Weiland has highlighted a partnership agreement signed by Stone Temple Pilots in 1996, and amended in 2010 – seemingly the same agreement cited by the band in their own lawsuit. Weiland argues the agreement allows each band member to perform on his own, and says the band kicked him to continue performing as Stone Temple Pilots; under the agreement, Weiland says, they would be forced to play under a different name if separate and apart from him.
Weiland maintains he had reached out to his bandmates multiple times, but his attempts at communication were ignored. He is seeking compensatory damages “in excess” of $5 million, along with statutory damages of up to $2 million for each “willful use” of the Stone Temple Pilots name “per mark, per type of goods or services sold, offered for sale or distributed.” Stone Temple Pilots performed last month with Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington on vocals, which would represent one count of Weiland’s sought-after statutory damages.
Before Weiland’s countersuit, Stone Temple Pilots responded last week to fans’ reactions regarding their lawsuit on their website. “Our purpose in taking this action is not to hurt Scott. We want to move forward productively, and Scott’s choices and actions have prevented us from doing that,” Robert DeLeo, Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz wrote. “Without getting into legal details, the band has a binding agreement that clearly states what each of us can and cannot do outside of STP. Unfortunately many of the decisions Scott made violate this agreement, have been harmful to the band, and prevented us from moving forward.”
Weiland was kicked out of Stone Temple Pilots in February and is currently touring as Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts, though he has tied the tour to his former band by naming it the “Purple at the Core” tour and performing Stone Temple Pilots songs. His next show is set for tomorrow night at the House of Blues in San Diego.