US: Ozzy Osbourne calls motion to dismiss claims ‘baseless’

Lawyers for Ozzy Osbourne have hit back at AEG in the ongoing dispute over major venue operators linking bookings at their different spaces, mainly in a bid to secure big acts for their LA arenas. Attorneys say that AEG has deliberately misled the court in its bid to have Osbourne’s lawsuit over the venue booking squabbles dismissed.

Last month, attorneys for AEG filed a motion to dismiss Osbourne’s antitrust lawsuit challenging the promoter’s block-booking policy, which requires artists playing the London’s O2 Arena to also play Staples Center in Los Angeles. EG lawyer Paul Salvaty said Osbourne doesn’t have legal standing to sue the company over the Staples Center commitment letter at the center of this latest round of the battle because the singer did not sign the agreement.

In a rebuttal to the motion to dismiss, Dan Wall, a lawyer for Osbourne, wrote that “Factually, AEG misrepresents its own practices with respect to the tying requirement it enforces. The formal venue hire agreement for the O2 referenced in the Staples Center Commitment unambiguously requires the promoter to ensure that the artist plays Staples when in Los Angeles.” He adds that no matter who signs the document, the block-booking policy binds the artist to perform.

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