It’s the Case of the Battling Buena Vistas.
A lawsuit in Los Angeles Federal Courtroom seeks to ban the hit Broadway musical “The Buena Vista Social Club” from utilizing the title, The Put up has realized.
The swimsuit, filed Thursday by touring firm Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos & His Buena Vista Orchestra, was a counter-attack to cease-and-desist warnings by highly effective music company BMG’s label World Circuit, which licenses its “Buena Vista Social Club” trademark to the Broadway manufacturing — and needs the orchestra to drop the similar-sounding title.
BMG has managed the trademark since 1999, however the orchestra’s producers declare within the swimsuit the that the company used “fraud” to have it renewed in 2023.
The orchestra’s swimsuit alleges BMG used “misrepresentations” in its trademark renewal software by saying it was for “live [concert] performances” — although the Broadway present is a stage musical primarily based on a e book, or script.
The present has performed to full homes on the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Put up critic Johnny Oleksinski praised it as “practically a jumbo jet to Havana” filled with “transportive and intoxicating” music.
The feud, which started final yr, was a authorized mess when BMG lawyer Jonathan S. Pink warned the troupe in a March 13 letter that the orchestra’s “continuous use of ‘Buena Vista’ in connection with its musical performances and related marketing is unacceptable.”
Pink wrote that use of the Buena Vista title “by a spinoff band” would trigger “consumer confusion.”
Steven Machat, producer of the orchestra tour, contends that BMG’s trademark is for the title “Buena Vista Social Club” — and never the time period “Buena Vista,” which references a Havana neighborhood in Cuba the place the dance-music fashion originated.
“They own four words together, but not the two alone,” Machat informed The Put up.
Machat’s nonprofit firm SSK desires the decide to throw out BMG’s assertion of trademark infringement and is in search of a jury trial for its declare towards BMG.
Machat, who beforehand labored with artists together with Peter Gabriel, Genesis, and Snoop Dogg, mentioned he’s gone the additional mile to clear up any confusion between his act and the Broadway present.
Final yr, the orchestra sought a compromise by dropping “Social” from its title — however the transfer didn’t fulfill BMG.
“I’m very clear that we are not the Buena Vista Social Club,” he mentioned.
SSK lawyer Michael Machat, Steven’s brother, wrote to BMG, “Buena Vista is a place just as New York is a place. There was a punk band called the New York Dolls. According to your logic, another band from New York is not permitted to call themselves the New York X, because New York is taken.”
The orchestra argues the title “Buena Vista” is often utilized by varied leisure firms, together with the Disney studio and a touring firm referred to as the Buena Vista All-Stars.
Pink had no instant touch upon the orchestra’s lawsuit.
The touring orchestra offered out many venues throughout its US and Canadian tour in 2024 and can have 50 extra performances this yr, presumably together with a charitable occasion at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Each productions have been impressed by the Grammy-winning 1997 album “The Buena Vista Social Club,” a compilation of Cuban dance music produced by American jazz composer and guitarist Ry Cooder.
