Grateful Dead, Santana, Led Zeppelin, The Doors
sue internet business for copyright infringement

By Julia Cheever, Bay City News Service

December19, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - Several classic rock stars, including Carlos Santana and members of the Grateful Dead, sued the owner of a memorabilia web site in federal court in San Francisco yesterday for allegedly violating their copyright and trademark rights.

The defendant in the lawsuit is William Sagan, owner of Wolfgang's Vault, a business that sells rock concert memorabilia and posters via the Internet.

Sagan, a Minnesota entrepreneur, founded the company after buying the archives of the late rock concert promoter Bill Graham in 2002. He has added other materials since then.

The business takes its name from Graham's given name, which was Wolfgang. The materials are housed in a San Francisco warehouse.

The plaintiffs include Grateful Dead Productions, Carlos Santana and members of Led Zeppelin and The Doors.

They claim Sagan is violating their copyrights, trademarks and publicity rights by selling originals and copies of memorabilia and by streaming to the public tapes of rock concerts recorded by Graham

The lawsuit seeks a halt to the alleged infringement, reimbursement for profits made by the company and additional punitive compensation.

Alyssa Miller, a spokesman for Sagan, said he had not been served with the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.

Grateful Dead member Bob Weir said "we have never given permission for our images and material to be used in this way."

Weir alleged that Sagan "is stealing what is most important to us -- our work, our images and our music -- and is profiting from the good will of our fans."

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge James Ware of San Jose.

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