The Commodores founder in High Court battle over band name - The Independent

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A legal row sparked by Brexit has reached the High Court, as former members of the iconic Motown group The Commodores clash over the right to use the band's name.

Originally established in Alabama, the group achieved a string of UK top ten hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including classic soul tracks such as 'Three Times a Lady' and 'Easy'.

However, former bandmates have been locked in a dispute over performing rights under the title of The Commodores for more than a decade, following the expiration of a prior agreement in 2014.

Lionel Richie departed the group in 1982 to establish a hugely successful solo career, with fellow co-founder Thomas McClary following him out of the band in 1984.

Unlike the 'Dancing on the Ceiling' singer, Mr McClary experienced less commercial success as a solo artist. In 2014, operating through his firm Fifth Avenue Entertainment LLC, he embarked on a tour across Europe and the UK under the name "The Commodores featuring Thomas McClary".

This move brought him into direct conflict with the band's active line-up, which still tours and features founding member William King. The resulting 12-year legal battle centres on the rights to perform under the “Commodores” name across the UK, the EU and the US.

Earlier this month, a judge in the High Court ruled that Mr McClary's company is not entitled to a UK trademark in the “The Commodores” name after he made a bid to exclude his former band from touring as The Commodores in Britain post-Brexit.

Upholding a decision made in 2025 by the UK Intellectual Property Office, Mr Justice Richards said that in making the bid Mr McClary and his company “were seeking to shut out the opponent, who had used the name 'Commodores' for over 30 years in the UK, from continuing to do so”.

Refusing his bid, the judge commented that Mr McClary and his company “(seem) to assume that, because Thomas McClary was a founder member of Commodores, the opponent is somehow incapable of asserting its rights against it.

“However, it has not explained why that is the case,” he added.

The Commodores are an American funk and soul group, which enjoyed most of its success in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer.

They have sold over 70 million albums worldwide, winning a Grammy in 1986.

In their current incarnation, The Commodores consist of original member, William “WAK” King, along with Brent Carter, Cody Orange, and Colin Orange, both influential former member Walter Orange's sons.

But the band has been at war with founder member Mr McClary for 12 years since he set up his rival Commodores-branded touring group in 2014.

Mr McClary's company also registered an EU trademark relating to the words “The Commodores” in the same year, sparking a legal battle with the company through which the current incarnation of the band conducts its business, Commodore Entertainment Corporation.

Commodore Entertainment Corporation (CEC) had obtained a US trademark in the words “The Commodores” in 2001 and, having obtained an injunction stopping him using the name in the US in 2014, went on to try to block Mr McClary's company from doing the same in the EU.

However after Brexit, Mr McClary's EU rights were confirmed after officials ruled that any “goodwill” CEC had in the Commodores name existed in the UK, not mainland Europe.

A US court has also since concluded that CEC's US rights to the name do not extend to the EU.

But last year, the battle between the former bandmates was sparked again when through his company Mr McClary made a bid to register a post-Brexit UK trademark for “The Commodores”.

That move was refused after CEC objected that the move would impinge on its goodwill, with Mr King's version of the band having performed in the UK several times in the last two decades.

A hearing officer of the UK Intellectual Property Office concluded that the goodwill in the Commodores name was in fact held by CEC in the UK and that Mr McClary had no right to register it in the name of his own company.

He went on to challenge that ruling in the High Court this year, but has now lost for a second time.

Dismissing his appeal against the officer's decsion in the High Court, Mr Justice Richards said: “The hearing officer concluded that Thomas McClary had no entitlement to any such goodwill [in the UK] in the name 'Commodores'.

“Having concluded that the applicant had no interest in goodwill associated with the name 'Commodores', the hearing officer considered...who did own that goodwill.

“He concluded [that]...after March 1984, it was the opponent [CEC] who conducted the musical business of the band. Between 1984 and 2014, the opponent was responsible for the quality of the relevant goods and services.

“It owned more than trivial goodwill in the name 'Commodores' as at 17 October 2014.

“The hearing officer noted that both the applicant and the opponent were conducting a musical business involving the use of the name 'The Commodores.' He acknowledged that multiple parties could own protectable interests in the same business name.

“However, the hearing officer found that the applicant's use of the name did not operate to deprive the opponent of goodwill.

“Accordingly, the opponent continued to hold goodwill associated with the name 'Commodores'.

“The hearing officer was entitled to conclude that, as at 17 October 2014, the opponent owned sufficient goodwill in the name 'Commodores' to mount a successful objection.

”The applicant seems to assume that, because Thomas McClary was a founder member of Commodores, the opponent is somehow incapable of asserting its rights against it. However, it has not explained why that is the case.

“The hearing officer was quite entitled to conclude on the evidence before him that Thomas McClary had not shown he was the owner of goodwill in the name 'Commodores' to the exclusion of the opponent.

”Thomas McClary and the applicant were seeking to shut out the opponent, who had used the name 'Commodores' for over 30 years in the UK, from continuing to do so.

“The appeal is dismissed,” the judge concluded.