Chad T Sends Cease and Desist Letter ... to Ed Options

[Cardiff_Giant]

Chad T has sent a letter to Ed telling him he does not have the legal right to use the name or image for +Live+ for any commercial activity (touring, marketing, branding, etc.) and to stop using it immediately.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DU8jMnWkTqR/?hl=en&img_index=1

[717raised]

Just when you think the drama is finally dead, boom!

[Hoodstock]

Selling the Drama

[twebman99!]

Chad T has sent a letter to Ed telling him he does not have the legal right to use the name or image for +Live+ for any commercial activity (touring, marketing, branding, etc.) and to stop using it immediately.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DU8jMnWkTqR/?hl=en&img_index=1

"I won't litigate this in public"...um, so social media isn't public, CT?

Ed's Canadian tour stars in a few days. Can't imagine those shows are going to get cancelled or changed to "That bald guy you remember from their videos and his current traveling version of Live" (and if you squint or are sitting in the back, it kinda looks like the same bass player ). The official website is still up, Ed's team still has the social media accounts, so are Ed's current lawyers just that much better than CT's?

I have to assume that the Chads and Patrick still get royalty payments from the music...if they haven't made more bad investments or given it to some race car guy again. Does it piss them off to see Ed touring as "Live" and other guys playing their parts? Maybe. But since there's money to be made on the touring circuit, be it small venues or 90s rock cruises, that's probably why they want the name back again so they can play with the rich boy replacement or some other guy or gal they can find that sounds like Ed (seems to work going on 20 years now for Journey).

To hell with legacy, just feel like all four of them are pissing on my good memories from back in the day.

[Bremang]

Chad Gracey also posted this on FB, chads united. Next up i think we get chad T with Ed vs. Gracey and Dahlheimer

[Merica]

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooring.

[CoconutBackwards]

What a bunch of losers.

[JonSnow]

To hell with legacy, just feel like all four of them are pissing on my good memories from back in the day.

I could be wrong, but I doubt the Chads and Pat are looking to rekindle Live 2.0 again with anyone. It could just be a thing where they want to put the name to rest and leave it in the past. If it can't be something that pushes forward the original mission then what's the point? It's just beating a dead horse.

Besides, Pat seems like he's enjoying himself with CS right now and CG has The Gracious Two and his own YT channel. If EK wants to keep playing music live, he can do it under his own name or go join some other band. Because it's pretty obvious they won't ever be doing anything together again. Again.

[Lakini's Juice]

Also deletes and blocks critics. No wonder Ed bailed.

[JKOH]

Also deletes and blocks critics. No wonder Ed bailed.

Made the mistake to read some comments in the 'Fans of Live' FB group. Gracey is also responding to some over there. The Chad's are just pitiful. I'm sure this is just Chad T just wants in on the current Live band. He will probably throw Gracey under the bus if it helps him getting back in the band again. Everything here is about 'money', nothing is about the protection of the Live legacy. He probably knows his case is weak, so he's hoping for some effect by throwing all this shit online. I mean he keeps referring to the 2013 MOU as if the 2016 or 2022 MOU are not just, legal or binding whatsoever. Whatever is in those MOU's, Im sure lawyers or even judges have already looked at those.

At least Ed and Pat have the decency to keep these sort of things out of the public eye.
For me this is not about who is right and who is wrong. Sjeesh, just talk to each other, use mediators and psychologists instead of lawyers.

This post has been edited by JKOH: Feb 20 2026, 4:19 am

[Lakini's Juice]

Made the mistake to read some comments in the 'Fans of Live' FB group. Gracey is also responding to some over there. The Chad's are just pitiful. I'm sure this is just Chad T just wants in on the current Live band. He will probably throw Gracey under the bus if it helps him getting back in the band again. Everything here is about 'money', nothing is about the protection of the Live legacy. He probably knows his case is weak, so he's hoping for some effect by throwing all this shit online. I mean he keeps referring to the 2013 MOU as if the 2016 or 2022 MOU are not just, legal or binding whatsoever. Whatever is in those MOU's, Im sure lawyers or even judges have already looked at those.

At least Ed and Pat have the decency to keep these sort of things out of the public eye.
For me this is not about who is right and who is wrong. Sjeesh, just talk to each other, use mediators and psychologists instead of lawyers.

100% agree with you.
The fact the Chads are talking again is just because their joint animosity against Ed, because they really thought he would let them in again with their drama.
Remember when Chad G was trying Ed to take him back? Recording YouTube video's showing he's still a good drummer? Brown-nosing him and praising him. Even throwing Chad T under the bus, saying Ed wrote everything and Taylor had nothing to do with it? I remember.
The "fans" joining the Ed-hate-train online is equally disgusting. It's like a cult. They can't see through the gaslighting and manipulation.
Gracey is terrible, attacks his own fans for cutting through his BS. I remember one IG-live session, he started trashing Ed again and i called him out. Boy, the vitriol, the namecalling, the slurs, the MAGA-talking points. Never meet your heroes they say....immediately he invited his partner in douche, Bill Hynes to the stream. Boy then it REALLY escalated.
Attacking your own fans bro. That's something else.
Well Taylor got in again with Shinn, after all the shit HE went through. Wonder the slimey shit he did to get him to play with him again.

This post has been edited by Lakini's Juice: Feb 21 2026, 1:26 am

[+Ed+]

Ah godverdomme

Here we go again

[dangum]

Former Live Members to Ed Kowalczyk: Stop Using Live’s Name
Guitarist Chad Taylor and drummer Chad Gracey, once at odds, have reunited against singer-guitarist in attempt to reclaim band name

By Kory Grow

February 20, 2026

Two members of Live posted screenshots of a cease-and-desist letter they issued to original frontman Ed Kowalczyk on Thursday asserting that Kowalczyk is no longer allowed to use the band’s name in business operations. “As of Feb. 16, 2026, [Kowalczyk’s] rights to use the LIVE brand were revoked by AFU,” guitarist Chad Taylor wrote on Instagram, referring to Action Front Unlimited, Inc., which owns Live’s trademarks. “I won’t fight this in public. The courts will handle it.”

Taylor also joined another founding member of the band, drummer Chad Gracey, in reposting the same letter, this time with the words, “Your license is revoked…” superimposed over it. Gracey simply wrote “Revoked” in his message.

The letter is titled, “Re: Formal Notice of Termination and Revocation of Trademark License and All Purported Rights — LIVE Marks — Cease and Desist Demand.” It contains a lot of legal wording about agreements and how the owners of Action Front Unlimited are now seeking to enjoin Kowalczyk from using the Live name “in connection with touring, merchandising, recording, advertising, promotion, branding, or any other commercial activity.”

“The assertions contained in the recently circulated ‘cease and desist’ letter from certain former members of LIVE are without merit,” Kowalczyk’s attorney Mitchell Schuster of Meister Seelig & Fein, PLLC, tells Rolling Stone. “Ed Kowalczyk has served as the band’s frontman since its founding and remains in that role. The claims made do not alter that reality. We intend to address this matter through the appropriate legal channels and are confident it will be resolved in Ed’s favor in court.”

Live, whose popularity hit critical mass in 1994 with the singles “Selling the Drama” and “Lightning Crashes,” originally split up in 2009, two decades after they formed in York, Pennsylvania. In 2010, Live’s non-singing members filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Kowalczyk alleging he’d entered into a publishing deal that they claimed owed them money. In 2012, Taylor, Gracey, and bassist Patrick Dahlheimer sued Kowalczyk via Action Front Unlimited for trademark infringement, objecting to the billing “Ed Kowalczyk, formerly of Live”; Kowalczyk countersued. That same year, they reunited, though with singer-guitarist Chris Shinn replacing Kowalczyk until the latter’s return in 2016.

In 2022, Kowalczyk allegedly fired the other musicians, taking control of the band. While Kowalczyk toured as Live, the other musicians fought amongst themselves, with multiple lawsuits filed. The musicians settled their suits last year.

A 2023 Rolling Stone article detailed the band’s nasty breakup and the subsequent fallout.

In May 2025, Gracey posted video of himself performing “Lakini’s Juice” with Shinn on vocals; the YouTube post said it was mixed by Taylor. Shinn is currently on tour with Dahlheimer playing bass, and Taylor appeared as a guest in February. Meanwhile, Live, with Kowalczyk fronting a group of touring musicians, have dates scheduled throughout Canada in February and March.

This article was updated at 3:35 p.m. on Feb. 20 to include a statement from Ed Kowalczyk‘s lawyer.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-ne...ist-1235519956/

[Bremang]

https://digitalnoisemag.com/ed-kowalczyk-of...ormer-bandmate/


Ed's lawyer responds

[JKOH]

Do you know what happened? How was he able to legally retain the name Live and tour without them?

That’s an interesting thing. I have theories about that. Ed has no idea how much money he may wind up owing in a lawsuit after the shit hits the fan. I think that Chad Taylor, being the businessman that he is, saved his own ass and got out. Ed thinks that he won, but I still think we’re going to see some ugly shit from that side.

From Chris Shin interview in 2022
Rolling Stone interview