OLIVER/DAWSON: Court Ruling Hardly A 'Victory' For SAXON

Original SAXON members Graham Oliver and Steve have issued the following statement in response to a press release sent out by vocalist Biff Byford last Tuesday proclaiming a victory in the SAXON trademark case:

"As reported elsewhere, there has been another result in the SAXON trademark case. When the case was originally heard in the trademark registry, by the registrar, he found in favour of Graham Oliver & Steve Dawson. Biff Byford appealed the decision and the case went before a High Court judge. He has disagreed with the judgement of the registrar, and therefore overturned his findings.

"Oliver & Dawson have maintained all along that the SAXON name was owned by all members of the SAXON partnership and as such registered the mark in the UK to protect their rights. The judge agreed with them, but stated that the name was an asset of the partnership, and therefore should not have been registered by any individual partners.

"This means that the SAXON trademark is no longer registered and that all partners in SAXON have rights to the name, rather than any one individual member.

"Contrary to Byford's recent press release, this is hardly a 'decisive victory for SAXON against Oliver-Dawson' as it quite clearly shows that they all have rights in the name, which is the position that Oliver and Dawson have been taking throughout their involvement in the Court actions. In fact, the two bands, although sharing a common ancestry, are separate entities, and OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON are disappointed that their proposals to Byford and Paul Quinn to sort out their differences without involving the Courts have been snubbed."