A judge in the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York has been asked to rule on a unique issue. In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, the Court has been asked to decide whether an entertainer who filed for bankruptcy protection can be forced to give up the name of his group and be barred from using his professional name.

Jay Black, whose given name is David Blatt, has been using the name for almost 40 years filed for bankruptcy last July. The trustee, A. Scott Mandelup, has argued that he was entitled to auction off the rights to the name Jay and the Americans to pay off Black's debts. The trustee has said that the only significant assets that Black had were the rights to the names and that it would benefit his creditors if the rights were sold to repay the debts.

The trustee further argued that Black should also be barred from using the name Jay Black or Jay Black and the Americans professionally, so as not to create competition with the names that were sold.

Among Black's debts are $500,000 owed to the IRS and New York state, for back taxes dating back to 1993.

One of 67 year old Black's attorneys argued that if the sales proceeded, the court would create a situation where fans who thought they were going to see Jay Black and the Americans would be defrauded.

The trustee responded by saying that Black was not the original "Jay". That distinction belonged to a singer named Jay Traynor, who preceded Black as lead singer.

The hearing on the matter has been adjourned to May 17th and Judge Melanie Cyganowski said she would rule on the matter in several weeks.

Jay Black and the Americans are best known for the songs "This Magic Moment", "Come a Little Bit Closer" and "Cara Mia".

It should be noted that another famous entertainer was involved in a controversy over performing under a professional name. In 1992, the artist Prince entered into a distribution deal with Warner Brothers. As part of the deal, Warner Brothers would fund Prince's independent label Paisley Park. In 1993, Prince changed his name to an androgynous symbol and Warner Brothers shortly thereafter pulled the funding to Paisley Park. Prince was able to break away from the deal, but Warner Brothers retained the distribution rights for Prince's name. For the next 7 years, Prince was referred to as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince ("TAFKAP") and released material under the name of the androgynous symbol. The contract expired on December 31, 1999 and TAFKAP resumed performing and recording as Prince.

Ray

Loyal readers may recall the blog bit on the Enzo Ferrari crash which involved some sketchy characters. Well, the saga continues. The California police have arrested another suspect and as they inquire into the matter of the 160 mph car crash, they are finding several items: the suspect is a Swedish businessman, who once led a now bankrupt gaming company which tried and failed to challenge Sony Playstation; he is to have allegedly presented himself to a gun dealer as a sworn police officer (not of Sweden!) "Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives said they found 12 rifles and four handguns during searches at the Swedish national's home in the Bel-Air community and on his 100-foot yacht docked at Marina del Rye."
However, it is all a mistake according to his lawyers, since the suspect is currently "a member of the "anti-terrorism unit" of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority, a small private company that provides rides to disabled people and the elderly in Monrovia and Sierra Madre" but the agency says that he was never a member of any police service and he had no legal right to claim he was a policemen so he could buy guns. As an aside, this "transit authority" only ever had five buses and is no longer in business.
This suspect is no stranger to the law as "According to court records, Eriksson spent five years in Swedish prison for assault, counterfeiting and narcotics offenses before becoming an executive with Gizmondo."

Our quotes above are from the full report, issued by the LA Times. Here is the link (after you click on the link below, click on Los Angeles and scroll down to the 2nd Arrest Made in Ferrari Case):

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/

Mike