Kling Klang vs. Kraftwerk: kleared up

Kling Klang have distanced themselves from comments made by their management last week regarding the chances of their being sued by Kraftwerk.

The original article – published here, on Friday (11 Apr) – claimed that Kling Klang took their name from the famous studio used by Kraftwerk as their headquarters. The management also claimed that the legendary German kosmische act should be “paternally gratified” that the Rock Action-signed band adopted Kling Klang as their name. They were also “not too prone to accept Kraftwerk’s request” that they cease working under the Kling Klang name.

Now, the management have come out to say that “They have decided to issue this statement as they felt that some members from their management failed completely to represent correctly their ideas about the entire matter. And blaming them for a misrepresentation that sprung from an ill informed employee is not right.”

The band continue:

“In Cologne on Sunday 6th April the UK band Kling Klang were issued with a document by representatives of Messrs. Ralf Hutter & Florian Schneider of the German band Kraftwerk. The document is an order to cease and desist using the name "Kling Klang" as the name of the group. Since Messrs. Hutter & Schneider own the single-word trademark "Klingklang" (the name of Kraftwerk's studio, and publishing/merchandising companies), they feel that use of the two-word term "Kling Klang" as a band name is an infringement of their trademark rights.

“The UK band Kling Klang arrived at the name by way of an onomatopoeic reference to a guitar improvisation of binary structure, and were under the impression that "klang" is a German word for sound, with "kling klang" meaning "bell-sound" (similar to "ding dong" in English). The term appears to be in popular usage in more than one language, including Swedish, and the band in no way thought they would be infringing upon the trademark rights of Messrs. Hutter and Schneider in utilizing this term as a name for the group.

“Kling Klang holds Kraftwerk in the highest esteem as musicians and hope to resolve this matter quickly and amicably.”