Veteran German band The Scorpions have forced Scorpio Concerts to change the name. Folkert Koopmans, managing director of the concert agency finally accepted a settlement due to a law suit with the soft metal band Scorpio and have to rename the company, from the start of 2004 they will be known as FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen GmbH. FKP stands for ‘Folkert Koopmans Presents’. According to Koopmans, he tried for two years to agree an out of court solution with the representatives of the band, but the band showed no interest in any compromise.

Koopmans commented: “I believe the Scorpions’ fans are capable of distinguishing between the band and us, but Mr. Schenker seems to disagree.” Scorpio (The agency) was founded in 1990 and over 10 years no significant confusion about the similar names ever occurred. While the Scorpions are absent from the charts, the band seem to focus on law suits. Scorpio Concerts noted that the band even sued their home town ice hockey team, the Hanover Scorpions.

Koopman argues, “Scorpio Konzertproduktionen GmbH, a tiny booking agency, has become one of the largest promoters in Germany. Naturally, this name stands for many personal memories, blood, sweat and tears. This is primarily an emotional, rather than a commercial issue. Part of what my team and I have built over the last 13 years was threatened by this suit – although not financially, since we will be equally successful as ’FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen GmbH. It was a matter of feeling powerless and being subjected to an injustice that we simply did not want to accept. Continuing in court would not have been without hope, but if we had lost the case in the end, it might have cost us, in addition to giving up our name, a seven-figure amount. This would have been, in effect, a payment of royalties to the Scorpions’ corporation - a risk we were not willing to take.”