DAITA, guitarist of the rock band SIAM SHADE, has sued four of his bandmates, seeking to bar them from using 38 songs he composed. He announced the filing on the band's official website.
The defendants are Eiki Imamura, Yasushi Nakagawa, Kazuma Endo and Junji Sakuma. In a long statement, DAITA set out the disputes that led him to court, including past money trouble and a fight over registration of the band's name as a trademark.
He opened by reporting the filing directly: "I, DAITA, have filed a claim against Eiki Imamura, Yasushi Nakagawa, Kazuma Endo and Junji Sakuma for an injunction on the use of the 38 songs I composed."
A charity reunion, then a damages claim
DAITA traces the dispute to 2011, when SIAM SHADE reunited to support recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. A company where DAITA serves as representative director handled live production, merchandise and DVD production, he said.
In 2018, the four members sent a certified letter to the sales company, and the two sides fell out over how revenue from goods and DVDs should be divided. In 2021 the dispute became a damages lawsuit against DAITA and the company.
According to DAITA, a settlement was reached on September 27, 2024, and neither he nor the company was left owing damages.
He also cited a separate suit over the recovery group General Incorporated Association Fukko Shien SSS. The four members sought about 26 million yen in damages from the organization, and the court dismissed all of their claims in a ruling on October 13, 2022, he said.
A collaboration gig and a trademark application
DAITA raised the SIAM SOPHIA collaboration announced in November 2024, a joint concert by SIAM SHADE and SOPHIA held at Osaka-jo Hall in February 2025. He said it went ahead without prior consultation or confirmation with him, and that another guitarist, RENO, played in his position. He described his feelings about it as complicated.
He also objected that Imamura applied alone to register "SIAM SHADE" as a trademark on November 21, 2024. The Japan Patent Office refused the application in July 2025, according to DAITA.
“I surmise that Eiki Imamura attempted to make the trademark rights to SIAM SHADE his private property and to monopolize them, but of course the application was completely "refused" by the Patent Office in July 2025. To my eyes, this kind of act is a symbolic one that desecrates the existence of SIAM SHADE and its members.”DAITA, in his statement on the band's official website
Why he filed now
DAITA said he sued out of alarm that the four will effectively keep working as SIAM SHADE. In talks aimed at the earlier settlement, he maintains, a judge gave an assurance that the band's activities and the use of its name would not go ahead unless all five members took part.
He closed by describing SIAM SHADE as "a band that is one SIAM SHADE made of five people," and said he remains a member. "My passionate feelings will never change," he wrote.
SIAM SHADE formed in 1989 as a five-piece rock band and made its major-label debut in 1995. Hits including "1/3 no Junjo na Kanjo," "Glacial Love" and "Kumori nochi Hare" followed before the band broke up in 2002. It played a reunion concert in 2007 and has performed intermittently since.