Buena Vista Social Club’s name sparks legal feud between Broadway hit and touring orchestra

nypost.com:

A lawsuit in Los Angeles Federal Court seeks to strip the hit Broadway musical “The Buena Vista Social Club” of its trademarked rights to the name, The Post has learned.The suit, filed Thursday by touring company Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos & His Buena Vista Orchestra, was a counter-attack to cease-and-desist warnings by powerful music agency BMG’s label World Circuit, which licenses its “Buena Vista Social Club” trademark to the Broadway production — and wants the orchestra to drop the similar-sounding title.BMG has controlled the trademark since 1999, but the orchestra’s producers claim in the suit the that the agency used “fraud” to have it renewed in 2023.The orchestra’s suit alleges BMG used “misrepresentations” in its trademark renewal application by saying it was for “live [concert] performances” — though the Broadway show is a stage musical based on a book, or script.The show has played to full houses at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

Post critic Johnny Oleksinski praised it as “practically a jumbo jet to Havana” full of “transportive and intoxicating” music.The feud, which began last year, turned into a legal mess when BMG lawyer Jonathan S.

Pink warned the troupe in a March 13 letter that the orchestra’s “continuous use of ‘Buena Vista’ in connection with its musical performances and related marketing is unacceptable.”Pink wrote that use of the Buena Vista name “by a spinoff band” would cause “consumer confusion.”Steven Machat, producer of the orchestra tour, contends that BMG’s trademark is for the name “Buena Vista Social Club” — and not the term “Buena Vista,” which references a Havana neighborhood in Cuba where the dance-music style originated. “They own four words together, but not the two alone,” Machat told The.