(antiMusic) Richie Ramone "Can't Say Anything Nice" about the songs from his short tenure in The Ramones being licensed for online sales with him not getting a cut. He filed a lawsuit again leading online music merchants, the estate of late guitarist Johnny Ramone, the music publishing company and the band's management company.
Richie, real name Richard Reinhardt claims in his lawsuit filed in the federal court in Manhattan that he is the author of six Ramones songs - "Smash You," "Somebody Put Something In My Drink," "Human Kind," "I'm Not Jesus," "I Know Better Now" and "(You) Can't Say Anything Nice." His lawsuit is seeking "at least $900,000 in damages, all profits the defendants made from the songs, and a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from using the songs in the future," according Punknews.org.
Those named as defendants include the estate of late guitarist Johnny Ramone, Ramones Productions Inc, their music publishing company as well as digital retailers Apple, Wal-Mart, and RealNetworks.
Reinhardt was a member of the band from 1983 through 1987 and now claims that he never gave permission to release any of his recordings with the band online. The lawsuit claims that "Richie has never licensed or authorized the use of the compositions in any digital formats" according to press reports.
