Ozzy and Tommy Iommi Settle Black Sabbath Name Dispute

Posted on Jul 21st 2010 9:00AM by Farah Ishaq
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Ozzy Osbourne and Tommy Iommi [pictured] have resolved their legal battle over ownership of the Black Sabbath name, issuing a statement that the feuding pair have now "amicably resolved" their issues, with Iommi not ruling out the two of them working together in the future.

"Both parties are glad to put this behind them and to co-operate together for the future and would like it to be known that the issue was never personal, it was always business," Rolling Stone reports.

Details of the actual settlement have not been revealed, but Osbourne had filed a lawsuit against Iommi accusing him of falsely taking ownership of the Sabbath name in a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May 2009.

Iommi replaced Osbourne in 1979 with the recently deceased Ronnie James Dio, yet the lawsuit claimed that it was Ozzy's "signature vocals" that were responsible for the band's "extraordinary success," specifically noting their decline in popularity and sales after he left the band.

Osbourne had demanded that ownership of the Black Sabbath trademark be split equally between himself, Iommi and Sabbath's Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, as well as a split of royalties and merchandise sales money from the period he was not in the band.

As well as the pair now finally claiming to be on good terms again -- for the first time since recording and touring their 'Reunion' album in the late '90s -- guitarist Iommi recently said he couldn't rule out the possibility of a reunion.

Speaking to metal radio station Pulse of Radio, Iommi said they would have to be careful with new material if they did reunite, "Well, I never say never. I mean, I've got a few ideas, but we'll see what happens, you know."

"We did try and do another album, but we've all changed so much and it's -- if you don't do an album that blows the doors off the last one that we did together -- then it's gonna be looked upon as a joke, you know."