"Futurepop" banned in Germany

From Side-Line Magazine

This shocking news reached us late last night and has since stirred the german ebm community. Germany's highest court has ruled yesterday that the term 'futurepop' can no longer be used in musical terms as it is a brand deposited by the Germany based factory Futurpop (without 'e') producing electronic components for PCs. The decision followed a lower court ruling that banning the term while keeping the market inundated with CDs described as futurepop music violated the constitutional provision guaranteeing the equality of citizens before the law. Judge Wolfgang Neskovic, who issued the lower court decision, hailed the high court ruling as an "important withdrawal of criminal law from sections of trademark policy." In a reaction Futurpop CEO Winfried Hassemer told Side-Line the following: "Unlike what is being believed, Futur(e)pop as term has been widely spread since the early 50s. In 1963 the trademark itself got registered in Germany and we were shocked to see so many musicians use this term to represent their indie electro pop." Hassemer, who is also the director of the reknown Berliner Philharmonic Quartet, is now asking an indemnity of 1 euro per CD for each album that has been sold as being 'futurpop'. As a protest several labels, such as Accession, Alfa Matrix and Out Of Line, have started labeling their CDs with stickers saying "This is f*t*repop!'. After the court's decision, the most populous German state, North Rhine-Westphalia, closed down a club that was to give a concert by Neuroticfish. Neuroticfish frontman Sascha Mario Klein reacted by saying: "I knew EBM was dead, but now futurepop as well? What is to become of the scene?!" More news as we get it, in the meantime fans have started a futurepop thread in our forum! A complete interview with Klein on this and other matters is available in Side-Line 51, out in the next weeks.