Tomorrow, Dash Berlin‘s Jeffrey Sutorius walks back onto a festival stage under a name he was legally barred from using.The victory is real but so was its cost, one that went beyond money and left wounds that, by his own admission, are still healing.
Ad 0:00 Click for sound 0:00 / 0:00 The Dutch DJ spent nearly a decade tangled in a legal battle over rights to the Dash Berlin brand, a clash that kept him sidelined from the iconic trance music project he helped build.Producers Eelke Kalberg and Sebastiaan Molijn acrimoniously split from Sutorius, the frontman of the influential trio, back in 2018 before a bitter trademark battle that left Dash Berlin hanging in the balance.
Sutorius announced in March 2021 that he’d legally lost the rights to the name and was forced to perform under his own, after which Kalberg and Molijn installed a new touring frontman.Music industry outlets have since reported that Sutorius prevailed in a subsequent appeal, though the underlying court ruling has not been independently verified through Dutch judicial records.
What is not in dispute is the toll the standoff took on a fanbase that spent nearly a decade watching a beloved act’s identity deteriorate in real time.In the world of electronic dance music, few sagas have been as protracted or as personal as the one ending tomorrow when Sutorius returns to the Ultra Europe stage and launches what he’s calling his “official comeback.” “The loss of the brand name for 5+ years definitely has left scars and there are still unresolved issues that need to be clarified,” Sutorius tells EDM.com.
“But for now it’s a happy and positive approach towards a fresh future perspective for Dash Berlin.I am super thankful for everyone’s patience and support.
It’s been a hell of a ride.” Prior to the inception of the project, Kalberg and Molijn co-produced Alice Deejay’s 1998 classic ‘Better Off Alo...