Word recently came down that vocalist Stephen Pearcy, guitarist Warren DeMartini and bassist Juan Croucier had reclaimed the rights to the Ratt band name, while drummer Bobby Blotzer has been expelled from the partnership following ongoing litigation.

Blotzer has since refuted the claim that he has been expelled from the Ratt partnership and no longer has an interest in the band's name.

Blotzer and his attorney, Drew Sherman, discussed the drama on an interview with Mitch Lafon on the One On One With Mitch Lafon podcast (streaming below).

"Essentially, in terms of Bobby, [the corporation] WBS owns the name," says Drew Sherman. "They do not - they meaning Stephen, Juan, Warren - whatever they're going out as, they do not have permission to do so [use the name Ratt]. So right now they're infringing the trademarks of Ratt owned by WBS. The ruling that we have, there are many legal strategies that will be employed in order to change and bring to the court's attention various other pieces of evidence as well as prior rulings.”

Listen below:

Listen to "1on1 Mitch Lafon - 282 Bobby Blotzer" on Spreaker.

Issued recently by Eddie Trunk here, the following statement came courtesy of Stephen M. Doniger, Esq.:

“After the four remaining original members of Ratt (Pearcy, DeMartini, Croucier and Blotzer) finished touring in 2014, Bobby Blotzer began touring as Bobby Blotzer’s Ratt Experience, and Juan Croucier began touring as Ratt’s Juan Croucier. Realizing that he could make ten times as much per show touring as Ratt, Blotzer relabeled his cover band as Ratt, over the objections of every other member of the band. He then proceeded to get into litigation with each of his three partners in an effort to usurp control of the Ratt name, claiming that WBS owned the band name and he controlled WBS.

A Federal District Court in the Central District of California has now Ordered judgment to be entered against WBS/Blotzer, finding that WBS does not own the Ratt name (WBS, Inc. v. Juan Croucier et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-07251-DDP). Under a 1985 written Ratt Partnership Agreement, the name/trademarks are the property of the partnership and can only be transferred with the unanimous approval of all partners. Thus, in 1997 when Blotzer, DeMartini and Pearcy purported to transfer the trademarks to WBS, that transfer was invalid since Juan Croucier (Ratt bassist) whom was still a partner, and never advised of, let alone consented to, the transfer. Thus, the partnership still owns the Ratt name.

Pearcy, DeMartini and Croucier have also expelled Blotzer from the partnership. Blotzer thus has no further interest in the Ratt name and may now only refer to himself as a “former member of Ratt” as per the partnership agreement. DeMartini, Pearcy and Croucier look forward to continuing to tour as Ratt and thank their fans for all the ongoing support.”
 
On October 1st, Pearcy (vocals), DiMartini (guitars) and Croucier (bass) reunited aboard the Monsters Of Rock Cruise West, which was completely unexpected by those in attendance, and performed a set of Ratt classics. They were backed by Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo, who played on the Infestation album from 2010, and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (Y&T, Megadeth).

Fan-filmed video of the band performing "You're In Love”, "Round And Round" and "Wanted Man" can be seen below:

(Photo - Bobby Botzer’s Ratt Experience Facebook)