There's been a while since we have heard of Immortal. But there might be an explanation for it. According to Dagbladet.no, members of the legendary Norwegian black metal band are embroiled in a legal dispute over the Immortal trademark. The group's frontman Abbath (Olve Eikemo) has attempted to claim rights to the Immortal name via his sole proprietorship Eikemo Compositions. The application has been stopped by a lawyer representing lyricist/guitarist Demonaz (Harald Nævdal) and drummer Horgh (Reidar Horghagen), who want the Immortal trademark to be shared by all three members. So, Abbath doesn't want to share?

Demonaz and Horgh's attorney cites section 21 of the Norwegian Trademarks Act, which states: "Anyone who can prove that he is entitled to a trademark in an application filed by another party may request that the Norwegian Industrial Property Office transfer the application. In such case, the person in question shall pay a new application fee. If there is doubt as to who is entitled to the right, the Norwegian Industrial Property Office may request that the party requesting the application be transferred to him bring legal actions within a time limit fixed by the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. If no such legal actions are brought within the time limit, the Norwegian Industrial Property Office may disregard the request. The party requesting the transfer shall be notified of this. While a transfer case is being examined by the Norwegian Industrial Property Office, the application may not be amended, shelved, refused or granted until the question of transfer has been finally decided. If legal actions have been brought concerning the right to the trademark, the Norwegian Industrial Property Office shall postpone examination of the case concerning registration or transfer until the proceedings have been decided with legally binding effect. The Norwegian Industrial Property Office shall notify the applicant and the party who has requested that the application be transferred to him of the decision in the transfer case. A final decision that the application is to be transferred shall be entered in the Trademark Register and published."

Abbath has until today (December 12th) to respond to the opposition before the Norwegian Industrial Property Office rules in the matter, which will probably happen in January or February.

The band released their last album All Shall Fall back in 2009. Hopefully, they won't take that literally.

Source:	dagbladet.no
Band profile:	Immortal