Neal Schon, co-founder of Journey and its only remaining original member, fired back Wednesday at former frontman Steve Perry, who is seeking to invalidate trademarks issued for 20 of the group’s song titles.
In a message on Facebook, Schon said he and his wife Michaele “found a legitimate Trade Mark attorney that wasn’t in the corrupt musical circles and were then successful in attaining it to Protect everything we built.”
He added: “We had been getting ripped off since the beginning until I shut it down … It was a giant corrupted ring of people that either Managnent (sic) or accountants hired to work for us cashing in on all our merchandise till now, all along knowing there was No Trade Mark on our merch.”
Schon said he sought to protect Journey’s album and song titles “as no one else had in 49 years of so called professional business.”
Perry, who left the band for good in 1998, filed a petition on Sept. 11 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claiming Schon and Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain are not allowed to register trademarks because they signed a partnership agreement with him requiring unanimous consent for any use of the tracks, for merchandise or anything else.
Freedom JN LLC, a company controlled by Schon and Cain, obtained trademarks earlier this year for Journey song titles like “Open Arms” and “Anyway You Want It.”
Perry alleged the pair committed “fraud on the trademark office” by providing "false or misleading information” about ownership of rights.
But, Schon is vowing to fight back.
“You haven’t heard the last of this friends,” he wrote. "We are going to peel back the onion.
“I’m hoping by being open with you all about my side of this it will help younger bands learn way earlier to do what’s necessary to protect themselves.”