[2025] EWHC 1954 (IPEC)

Venom Logo 1

I heard a good deal of evidence about the creation of Venom Logo 1 which it was common ground was the first logo used by the band. It was the version of the logo used on the album Welcome to Hell, released by Neat Records in 1981, but plainly predated that release.

Mr Lant said that he had produced the logo soon after joining the band, whilst Mr Bray said that he had painted it himself onto a drum riser used for the band before Mr Lant joined it. Mr Bray’s evidence was supported by Mr Dunn and Mr Ash, both of whom agreed that the band had been called Venom before Mr Lant joined it, and that Venom Logo 1 was in use on the drum riser before he joined the band.

The Defendants had no documentary support for the claim that the logo was designed by Mr Bray before autumn 1979. They initially relied on a photograph of the original vocalist Mr Archer standing on stage in front of a Venom Logo, saying this showed Venom Logo 1. Mr Bray said that this was taken at a birthday party and predated Mr Lant joining the band. However, the Defendants later conceded that the image had been cropped from a photograph which it was agreed had been taken at a performance in Newcastle in 1980 which showed Mr Lant on stage too, playing guitar. The logo in that complete photograph could be either version 1 or 2, so does not help to establish either side’s case on Venom Logo 1. On the other hand, there is a photograph of Mr Dunn standing before the drum riser on stage, and the logo on it appears to me to be Venom Logo 1. The V is not shown in full, but the tops of the letter N, O and M are visible and are rounded rather than pointed, which means this was Logo 1. Mr Lant identified that photograph as being from a performance in about March 1980 in Newcastle. I think it likely that it is from the same gig as is shown in the larger photograph, but if it is not, it is from much the same time. Unfortunately, the fact that the band was using Venom Logo 1 in early 1980 – which I do not think was really in issue - does not help me to resolve the question of who designed it.

Mr Lant said that he started by redesigning the Sigil of Baphomet device which I discuss below, and the following week took some sketches of a new Venom logo to rehearsals to show to the others. He worked on the sketches and got Mr Bray’s approval of them before reaching the final version, which was then put onto a drum riser. He believes that happened in late 1979 or early 1980. He disclosed some early sketches, which include some versions of the logo which are highly similar if not identical to Venom Logo 1. However, the sketches are all undated and it is not possible to know the sequence in which they were drawn, or whether they were original works or copies of an existing form of the logo used as a baseline for design ideas. One such drawing shows a logo which is neither Venom Logo 1 or 2 on a sketch of a ticket for a very early performance by the band. This does not help to establish dates or the sequence of design iterations. In the circumstances, it does not seem to me that Mr Lant’s evidence that he drew Venom Logo 1 as well as 2 is clearly supported by any documents. My finding that Venom Logo 1 was in use on a drum riser in early 1980 cannot help me to resolve the issue of its authorship.

Mr Lant’s claim to authorship was contradicted by the evidence of Mr Bray, Mr Dunn and Mr Ash, all of whom were involved with the band prior to Mr Lant joining it. Both Mr Dunn and Mr Ash believe that Mr Bray was the author of Venom Logo 1 and produced it before Mr Lant joined the band. Mr Ash said that he remembered helping to attach the signage with Venom Logo 1 to the drum riser to do a show on Mr Bray’s mother’s lawn, when the band made so much noise that the neighbours called the police. Mr Dunn said that the version of the logo shown to him by Mr Lant at the rehearsal was Venom Logo 2, not 1, and his willingness to accept that Mr Lant was the author of that version of the logo gives some weight to that evidence and his view that he did not draw Venom Logo 1. On balance, I consider that I should accept the evidence for the Defendants on this point, the veracity of which was not challenged.

In the circumstances, I dismiss Mr Lant’s claim to be the author of and owner of the copyright in Venom Logo 1. I find that Mr Bray was the author of it and owns the copyright in it.