Guns N' Roses vs. Dr Pepper

Guns N’ Roses’ and Axl Rose’s lawyer has castigated Dr Pepper, accusing the soda maker of failing to deliver on its “Chinese Democracy” (Black Frog/Geffen) free soda promotion, which the band was never involved in.

Beverly Hills-based Alan Gutman has written to Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. president and CEO Larry Young, accusing the company of operating an online redemption scheme that was an “unmitigated disaster which defrauded customers.” Gutman is demanding that Dr Pepper makes good on its offer by extending the period for the offer; he also wants full-page apologies in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

Gutman’s letter makes clear his view that the original campaign was an “exploitation of my clients’ legendary reputation and their eagerly awaited album” and “brazenly violated our clients’ rights.” He is also seeking an “appropriate payment… for the unauthorized use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights,” with the threat of further action if an acceptable offer is not made.

“Now is the time to clean up the mess,” says Gutman. [Billboard]

Wired says, “Anyone who goes to the site now looking for their free soda due to Chinese Democracy being released is greeted by the normal front page of DrPepper.com, which contains no visible mention of the high-profile giveaway. If you didn’t register for your soda in the first two days the album was on sale, you’re out of luck, unless Gutman succeeds in forcing DR Pepper to extend the deadline again.”

A video someone made while camping out at Best Buy on Chinese Democracy‘s release day, below…

Camped Out For GN’R’s Chinese Democracy