FRANK ZAPPA - ZAPPA'S WIDOW LOSES FESTIVAL BATTLE

ZAPPA'S WIDOW LOSES FESTIVAL BATTLE

FRANK ZAPPA's widow has lost her legal battle against a German festival named after the late rocker. Gail Zappa and her family trust challenged organisers of the Zappanale Festival, which takes place annually in the town of Bad Doberan, demanding they change the name and remove a bronze sculpture of Zappa from the town.
But a Dusseldorf court has thrown the case out and dismissed Gail Zappa's bid for 250,000 Euros ($331,000/£236,000) in damages.
Her case was weakened when the court established she could not prove she had used her late husband's name in Germany, and that she knew about the festival as far back as 1990, when Zappa was still alive - yet only took action in 2008.
Festival organiser and Frank Zappa Fan Club boss Thomas Dippel says, "We have always been certain that we have the older rights. We have also patented the name of the festival with the German patent office. Gail Zappa only applied for the patent of her own rights in 2002."
Frank Zappa died from prostate cancer in 1993, aged just 52.