Coop Vs. Kiss Case Put to Rest
Eleven months after Alice Cooper’s former publishers filed a suit
for copyright infringement against Kiss frontman Paul Stanley and
former guitarist Bruce Kulick, the parties have reached an
out-of-court settlement.
Six Palms Music Corp., which filed the complaint with the U.S.
District Court in Los Angeles on Oct. 28, 1998, contended that the
Kiss song “Dreamin,'” from their latest album, Psycho
Circus, sounded far too much like the Cooper classic
“Eighteen,” released back in 1971. The company, which published the
Cooper hit, alleges that Stanley had to have heard the
chart-topping single on numerous occasions since the two groups
were contemporaries in the Seventies shock rock scene.
According to insiders, Six Palms was initially asking for a
rather high settlement amount and planned to take the case to
court, but once the lawyers for Kiss’s label presented them with
the disappointing sales figures for Circus, they lowered
the amount they were asking. Paul Stanley and Bruce Kulick were in
attendance at the settlement talks, but Cooper was not. The parties
reached their agreement on August 12.
Ironically, Bruce Kulick’s brother Bob toured with the Alice
Cooper in 1975 during their Welcome to My Nightmare tour,
and he even produced last year’s Alice Cooper tribute album,
Humanary Stew, playing on its rendition of “Eighteen.”
Evan Cohen, lawyer for Six Palms, confirmed that the case had
been settled, but declined to give any further details. Cooper’s
management also confirmed that a settlement had been reached, but
said they had no further details: “We heard that the suit had been
settled, but since we weren’t party to it, we didn’t expect an
official confirmation.” Although no one is saying, it’s rumored
that the settlement was in the low six figures. Calls to McGhee
Entertainment, Kiss’s management company, were not returned.