Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi have issued a joint statement on the recent resolution of their dispute over the Black Sabbath trademark.
Ozzy had sued Iommi claiming that the guitarist had no right to register the band’s trademark, and demanding 50 per cent of the earnings from this.

Now the pair has said:

“Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi of the legendary heavy metal band Black Sabbath have amicably resolved their problems over the ownership of the Black Sabbath name and court proceedings in New York have been discontinued. Both parties are glad to put this behind them and to cooperate together for the future and would like it to be known that the issue was never personal, it was always business.”

Whether this public smoothing-over of the problem is a prelude to a much-rumoured reunion of the original Black Sabbath line-up remains to be seen. Right now, nobody concerned is ruling it out.