Live Nation: U2 Sells, Iommi Sues

It hasn't been the best week for Live Nation, the giant, multi-tiered music industry company.

Live Nation will lose about $19 million U.S. ($22.7 million Canadian) because of a deal it signed with U2 in March.

The company guaranteed U2 would receive $25 million for 1.6 million shares as part of their 12-year agreement. The Irish band has now moved to sell those shares, according to The Wall Street Journal. Live Nation's shares closed at $3.91 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, which makes U2's shares worth about $6.3 million U.S.

Maybe Bono will donate his profits to a poor African country or a worthy charity. Or maybe not.

Madonna signed a similar deal with Live Nation in October 2007 and is eligible to sell her shares in April. The value of the company's stock has dropped by 83 per cent since that agreement was signed.

"Madonna and U2 are the only two deals that did contain this [stock sales] provision," Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino told The Wall Street Journal. "The Madonna business is great, and we look forward to monetizing our investment in U2 next year."

If that wasn't enough, Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Live Nation on Tuesday in New York City's Manhattan Federal Court.

Iommi claims Live Nation sold merchandise using Black Sabbath's logo after their contract ended. Live Nation purchased the Signatures Network Inc. merchandise company for $79 million in 2007, but Signatures' contract with Sabbath ended a year earlier and Iommi reclaimed the group's trademark.

Iommi alleges Signatures and Live Nation continued to sell more than 100 items — including clothing, jewelry, posters and fashion accessories — featuring Sabbath's likeness, name and logo. The guitarist claims to have sent the companies a letter in April asking them to stop selling the merch, but they didn't.

Iommi is requesting damages worth three times the profits from the merch sales in addition to a halt on selling Sabbath goods.

Iommi's complaint states that former bandmates Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward signed the rights to Black Sabbath and its likeness over to him when they left the band. He has registered the Black Sabbath trademark in the U.S., U.K. and European Union.