How did that one song go? Now I wanna sue you too! Maybe not, but the ugly legal battle between the estates of Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone continues, as Mickey Leigh (Joey’s brother) has countersued Linda Cummings-Ramone (Johnny’s widow), claiming she is infringing on the Ramones‘ trademarks and exploiting the band’s legacy.
Back in January, we reported on Linda suing Mickey over the Pete Davidson-led Netflix biopic I Slept with Joey Ramone, which is currently in development and based on Leigh’s memoir of the same. Linda claimed the movie is a “covertly developed an unapproved and unauthorized Ramones-based biopic” that is based on Leigh’s “one-sided recitation of the history of the Ramones.”
Now, Leigh has struck back with his own lawsuit against Linda, calling her a onetime “groupie” who has latched on to the Ramones name. The suit, which Billboard reports was filed on Friday (August 23rd), reads, “Ms. Cummings-Ramone has made and continues to make blatant attempts to exploit and personally capitalize on and benefit from the name, goodwill and legacy of the Ramones — that is, to try to push the false narrative that she is the heiress to … the Ramones’ legacy. She most certainly is not. She is nothing more than a blatant self-promoter and an infringer.”
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The suit continues, “Ramones are unique in many ways. One of which is that they are the only band of stature where all the members were not related but used the same last name as if they were. That made it easy for defendant to insert herself into the Ramones legacy as part of the family, the public spokesperson, and to associate her personal brand with Ramones, by using the name ‘Linda Ramone.’ Indeed, ‘Linda Ramone’ never existed while her husband, John Cummings was alive. Defendant increasingly adopted the name ‘Linda Ramone’ after Mr. Cummings died.”
The lawsuit goes on to claim, “Ms. Cummings-Ramone presents herself to the world as ‘Linda Ramone’ and unilaterally adopts the mantle of designated Ramones spokesperson and ‘keeper of the legacy.’ She intentionally gives the false impression that she is empowered to take the lead on, or unilaterally pursue, Ramones business.”
The estates of singer Joey Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone each own half of Ramones Productions, with Leigh and Cummings-Ramone serving as the respective executors. Since the deaths of Joey and Johnny, Leigh and Cummings-Ramone have been embroiled in several legal battles, continuing the notorious contentious behavior between Joey and Johnny when they were alive.
