In another blow to the world of impostor groups, Nevada Federal Judge Miranda M. Du has ordered a preliminary injunction against Larry Marshak and his company Florida Entertainment Management, stopping them using the name The Platters.
The group, currently appearing at the Crown Theatre in the Rio Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, must bill themselves in some other way so there is no confusion to people buying tickets for the show.
The 30-page decision reaffirms two previous Nevada federal court rulings that superior rights to the trademark belong to Herb Reed and his companies. Herb Reed, who passed away on June 4 of this year, was the founder and naming member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Vocal Group and Grammy Hall of Fame quintet The Platters.
New York-based music promoter Larry Marshak and his myriad companies have long been creating and touring imposter groups from the golden age of music such as The Platters, Temptations, Drifters and more recently, the Marvelettes, in effect denying these legendary impresarios of their legacies and identities and leading unsuspecting consumers to believe they are actually seeing original founding members or groups actually licensed and mentored by original members.
In her Order, Judge Du ruled that "Defendants" Marshak and his company Florida Entertainment Management, "and their agents are preliminary enjoined from use of the mark The Platters, and any equivalent or phonetically similar names or marks, in connection with any vocal group in any advertisements, promotional marketing, or other materials, with two narrow exceptions. First, Defendants may use the mark The Platters in connection with the names Larry Marshak's Tribute to The Platters or Larry Marshak's Salute to The Platters."
Responding to the Nevada ruling, Frederick J. Balboni, Jr. of the Balboni Communications Group, LLC, Reed's personal manager and manager of his companies said, "Thankfully Herb died knowing that The Platters name was returned to him. It was important to him that the legacy he and the other original members of the group cultivated continue. This decision paves the way for The Platters, also known as Herb Reed's Platters, to be recognized as the only authorized group to perform and continue the legacy. I only wish that Herb was still here to see this, but I know he is smiling down at us knowing another of the Great Pretenders has been stopped."
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