From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1966
NEW YORK — The Troggs’ recording of “Wild Thing” will continue to be marketed on the Atco and Fontana labels. The injunction proceeding initiated by Mercury Records has been stayed until Sept. 1 and the request for a preliminary injunction by Atlantic Recording Corp., Atco’s parent company, and York-Pala Records against Mercury Records, Fontana’s parent company, was denied, by rulings handed down in New York Supreme Court last week. No decision as to the ultimate rights to this Troggs recording or to their future recordings was made.
The rulings mean that no injunction is in effect and the competitive battle between Atco and Fontana over the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” will continue through the summer. “Wild Thing” is in the No. 6 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart this week crediting both Atco and Fontana.
It has been almost two decades since two firms have simultaneously sold the same version of a pop hit. Last such case in the pop field was when Mercury
Records and National Records sold Eileen Barton’s, “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake.” END
(Information and news source: Billboard; July 9, 1966)
