"Do You Know Where You Are? You're in Litigation, Baby"

Axl Rose is a lot like Sarah Palin. Although both leave behind them a long trail of almost unspeakable fuck-ups, neither is especially good at taking responsibility for them. To understand Governor Palin, you need to read her first book, Going Rogue, to learn that everything was Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace's fault. In Axl's case, just follow the lawsuits.

Famous people spend a lot of time in court. Specious lawsuits come with the territory. I get that. But after spending 15 years in hiding, can The Artist Formerly Known as William Bailey still be considered famous. It takes him a decade and a half to finish a mediocre record and he's plays to crowds half the size that he used to, when he plays at all. If he wasn't fraudulently calling his solo career Guns N' Roses, I don't think that anyone would know anything about it. But he spends more time in litigation than your average celebrity.

Everybody has their favorite Axl lawsuit. Most people liked the one where his ex-wife, Erin Everly, and his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Seymore, joined forces to sue him for beating the crap out of them. Until this morning, my favorite was the conflagration between Rose and his former manager Irving Azoff. I happen to believe that Azoff; the nexus between Frontline Management, Ticketmaster and Live Nation; is the living personification of everything that's wrong with the music business. On the other hand, Axl Rose is a fucking nutter. Litigation like that is endlessly entertaining and it's what keeps me alive.

But now there's a better one. Axl's suing the makers of Guitar Hero III. Why, you ask? Because he doesn't like Slash very much, that's why.

The Guns N' Roses frontman has just filed a $20 million lawsuit against "Guitar Hero" maker Activision claiming its use of the GNR song "Welcome to the Jungle" violated a deal not to include any imagery of ex-guitarist Saul Hudson (aka Slash) in the popular game.

In an amusing lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, Rose and his Black Frog Music claim Activision Blizzard fraudulently induced Rose into authorizing "Jungle" for use in "Guitar Hero III" by telling him during negotiations that it wouldn't feature any reference to the former GNR member or his subsequent band Velvet Revolver.

" began spinning a web of lies and deception to conceal its true intentions to not only feature Slash and VR prominently in 'GH III,' but also promote the game by emphasizing and reinforcing an association between Slash and Guns N Roses and the band's song 'Welcome to the Jungle,'" the complaint states.

When Rose found out that a Slash-like character and Velvet Revolver songs would be included in "GHII," he said he immediately rescinded the authorization for "Jungle," but Activision allegedly lied and told him the inclusion was just for the purposes of a trade show.

Then "GHIII" came out and its box cover featured "an animated depiction of Slash, with his signature black top hat, long dark curly hair, dark sunglasses and nose-piercing," according to the complaint. In shot, the former GNR guitarist was all over "GH III," enraging Rose.

This is more complicated than it looks, because it focuses on how bands are actually incorporated businesses. Each member of a band is a partner in the business, unless that band is like the current Guns N' Roses, where everyone but Axl is an employee. As is true in most businesses, when a partner exits the venture, the remaining partners buy his stake in the partnership.

However, musical groups are more complicated than most businesses because of the importance of song publishing, which is traditionally where the money is. Publishing is yet another partnership, separate and apart from the band partnership. And no one in their right mind gives up their publishing rights. Let's say the Rolling Stones broke up tomorrow. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would still have to deal with one another because they would remain equal partners in their publishing business. If you wanted to include, say, "Gimmie Shelter" on your video game or movie soundtrack, Mick and Keef would have to agree to licence it.

If you look at the songwriting credits for "Welcome to the Jungle", you find that they're equally divided between Axl and Slash. Most Gn'R songs are divided compositions between Rose and some variation of Slash, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin'. Accordingly, they would, in theory, remain partners in the publishing end of Guns N' Roses.

However, there's some controversy surrounding the ownership of original band's publishing. Five years ago, Axl merged the publishing with Sanctuary Music (which at the time also served as his management) without telling Slash and Duff. He may or may not have also pocketed their royalties. Slash and Duff, not being as stupid as they look, filed suit federal court. So far as I'm aware, the matter has yet to be resolved.

So that's one question that would have to addressed: Does Axl have the legal right to be negotiating publishing matters by himself? Yes, he did create Black Frog Music, but does it legally claim sole ownership of the GN'R catalogue? If not, the Activision suit is baseless.

But the funniest part of the saga is further down in the Reuters story;

"This lawsuit is about protecting Guns N' Roses and 'Welcome to the Jungle,' and is about holding Activision accountable for its misuse of these incredibly valuable assets," says Rose lawyer Skip Miller, "The relief we are seeking is disgorgement of profits and compensatory and punitive damages."

Axl has an odd way of "protecting" Guns N' Roses. Everybody but him left the band, and he hired studio guys to spend 15 years making a record that was only as good as the worst parts of Use Your Illusion I and II. He's late for concerts when he bothers to show up at all, and the 2002 tour was killed by promoters after two no-shows on Axl's part that resulted in riots. And that's ust during the years of the most recent version of GN'R. He was doing violently crazy shit during the 80's and 90's, too. Axl might somehow own the legal rights to the name "Guns N' Roses", but he's done a shitty job of protecting it.

If anything, Axl should thank Activision for openly associating Slash's image with both the song and Guns N' Roses. Even though he hasn't done anything worthwhile in years, people at least still think of him fondly, which can't be said of Axl.

On the other hand, seeing how the publishing issues work out will be fascinating for geeks like me.