Johnny Marr's Management response to Morrissey's allegations (September 17, 2024)

A statement from Johnny Marr's management:

Recent statements made by Morrissey on his website regarding the trademark of
The Smiths' name are incorrect.

Here are the facts:

In 2018, following an attempt by a third party to use The Smiths' name - and upon
discovery that the trademark was not owned by the band - Marr reached out to
Morrissey, via his representatives, to work together in protecting The Smiths' name.

A failure to respond led Marr to register the trademark himself.
It was subsequently agreed with Morrissey's lawyers that this trademark was held
for the mutual benefit of Morrissey & Marr.

As a gesture of goodwill, in January 2024, Marr signed an assignment of joint
ownership to Morrissey. Execution of this document still requires Morrissey to sign.

In the interests of accuracy and clarity regarding the trademark, and to answer
recent reports that Marr ignored a promoter's offer to tour as The Smiths, Marr says:

"To prevent third parties from profiting from the band's name, it was left to me
to protect the legacy. This I have done on behalf of both myself and my former
bandmates."

"As for the offer to tour, I didn't ignore the offer - I said no."

Additionally, speculation about Johnny Marr touring with a different singer as
The Smiths is not true. There are no such plans.

Johnny Marr also confirms that he declined a suggestion for another greatest hits
compilation from Warner Music Group given the number already in existence.

---

Related items:

• Morrissey Central: "THE PLOT THICKENS" - September 15, 2024
• Morrissey Central: "SMITHS NOT OK" - September 11, 2024
• Morrissey Central: "WAR IS OLD, ART IS YOUNG" - August 29, 2024

 

[starman1973]

And once again, Johnny appears to be the only responsible parent in the room... God bless him

 

[Amy]

I don't believe that Morrissey was deliberately lying, because nobody would embarrass themselves and taunt someone three times if they thought they would be exposed. The phrase "the plot thickens" - that suggests mystery i.e he did not know how or why Johnny had registered the trademark.

The most generous interpretation I can offer is that Morrissey is very poorly advised, was encouraged / enabled to sound off without having full possession of the facts, and is now back to being the unreasonable, lunatic Smith all over again. He needs to take a good look at the people around him, and think again about who he can trust. He seems to be surrounded by people who egg him on and say all the right things while they are filling their coffers, but behind his back they set him up to fail.

 

[Thewlis]

Marr said that thete were already enough compilations and sees no need for another one. And I tend to agree with him. They just need to produce additional copies of those already existing if there’s high demand.

Yes, agreed, but there will always be demand for new releases. And there are interesting opportunities like box sets, Troy Tate sessions, live recordings, an expanded Rank (including those songs left off) etc.

It would be a shame if there would never be another Smiths release ever again.

 

[Moltisanti]

The Smiths have been in the news a lot lately - for all The wrong reasons.

 

[SteveWS]

The depressing alternative is that Moz is using recent political tactics i.e. even if the lie is soon exposed, the impact of that lie registers with those who wish to ascribe malign motives to the 'enemy' party.

 

[Amy]

Looking on the bright side:

 

[RickySmith]

Reading between the lines it would seem that the Johnny Marr Management statement is incorrect.
The Trademark is assigned to Johnny and His Wife.
I'm not surprised that Morrissey did not want to signup to sharing the Trademark with both Johnny and his Wife!

It would not be an balanced arrangement.

Morrissey should challenge Johnny's ownership if the Trademark on the basis of what Johnny said when asked in this Video

 

[Mayfly]

Yes, agreed, but there will always be demand for new releases. And there are interesting opportunities like box sets, Troy Tate sessions, live recordings, an expanded Rank (including those songs left off) etc.

It would be a shame if there would never be another Smiths release ever again.

Agree on the Troy Tate sessions, that would have been interesting. But is there anything indicating this was part oof the plan ?
However, I see no need for another compilation. There will always be demand for the music of the Smiths, and that is a wonderful thing, but surely they can press more copies of the existing ones ?

 

[SuedeMoz]

Morrissey's next update should be a sincere apology. What a fool he has made of himself.

You're right - but do we ever get that from him? He canceled how many shows last year and couldn't be bothered to issue even one word to his disappointed fans.

 

[Amy]

How does any of us see the the future...? Bleak at the moment.

Much less bleak than it was an hour ago. Johnny has been a grown-up, thankfully, this time.

 

[Mayfly]

Morrissey's next update should be a sincere apology. What a fool he has made of himself.

Has he ever apologized for his mistakes ?

 

[That's Enough For Me]

Does Marr's reply make More-Essay look..oh I dunno...

Devious? Truculent? Unreliable?

 

[Amy]

You're right - but do we ever get that from him? He canceled how many shows last year and couldn't be bothered to issue even one word to his disappointed fans.

It would have been easier for him to slip away quietly, as it were, if he hadn't been criticised JM over and over so publicly. Another poor decision which has backfired terribly.

 

[Thewlis]

Much less bleak than it was an hour ago. Johnny has been a grown-up, thankfully, this time.

Not sure. It is very factual and clarifying but it doesn’t really offer an olive branch, an opening for future cooperation, even on releases.

Like others have said, I think Morrissey will just continue with his own version that Johnny refuses to work with him and has blocked the release of the box set and comp. Which in a way is still true.

 

[Erik]

You’d almost think this was JohnnyMarr-solo.com

 

[SuedeMoz]

You’d almost think this was JohnnyMarr-solo.com

Yeah, you're right. Just Morrissey's false allegations should be posted here but not Johnny's
response to them.

 

[TheSmiths_1985]

You’d almost think this was JohnnyMarr-solo.com

 

[dallow_bg]

Next Moz post will be about Johnny refusing to purchase a fax machine so he can sign the document. Always a catch with Marr.


Where's that user talking about Marr's halo slipping?

Reading between the lines it would seem that the Johnny Marr Management statement is incorrect.
The Trademark is assigned to Johnny and His Wife.
I'm not surprised that Morrissey did not want to signup to sharing the Trademark with both Johnny and his Wife!

It would not be an balanced arrangement.

Morrissey should challenge Johnny's ownership if the Trademark on the basis of what Johnny said when asked in this Video

Oh brother.

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

Johnny's reply to Morrissey on website trademark
If

If there was any doubt as to how important Marr is to The Smiths legacy , it’s this and the last few years .
Me like a few others don’t give a shite about Marrs solo career or him as an artist and shit . Like a load of others , from first time I went to a Smiths gig I was team Moz.
I do think Moz did a good feckimg job at keeping it together for the first 11 years of his solo career . Marr prob thought feck Moz is on point I will leave him to it . Once things started to get unstuck around 2008 it was common knowledge he was going a bit gaga and he lost it around 2009 or so for a while
Marr tried to step in and get him on track and make some dosh
M said no , then once the acclaim of his auto died down and Ms name took a hit again. And again , Marr became more proactive in guarding The Smiths name . When M took a giant shit on The Smiths name around low in high school and lost more and more fans . Marr decided to take over . Thank f*** he did
I know some on here and other fairly newbies like to trust what m says , but trusting just makes you look a dick . He is a proven liar and has been embarrassingly despicable for years now .
“ why the feck do you come here then “
Because I hope at least 20 % of what he used to be will return ,. I miss Smiths and 90s M like crazy . It’s like a death

 

[Banbury Moz Army]

C

Nice one, John boy
Hopefully Morrissey will crawl back under his rock, and concentrate on his solo career now - though who knows with that guy?