Live Aid could return to help combat coronavirus.
Sir Bob Geldof has raised hopes of another global gig by trademarking the name 37 years on.
For the first time the Band Aid Charitable Trust – set up by Bob before the first gig on July 13 1985 – has applied to protect the use of the term `Live Aid’.
The licence covers merchandise such as clothes, jewellery, books, posters, bags and toys.
Intriguingly the Trust has also filed to protect its use for live music concerts and streaming.
That is certain to bring hope to millions of music fans a new show could happen to help the global fight against Covid-19 – though trustees insisted there are `no plans’.
The original historic benefit event – organised by Sir Bob and Midge Ure – was a 16-hour music extravaganza involving live performances by the world’s biggest artists at simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia.
More than 160,000 packed Wembley and the John F Kennedy Stadiums to watch the shows while 1.9 billion in 150 nations tuned in to live TV coverage – nearly 40% of the world’s population.
The gigs – which featured a legendary performance by Brit rockers Queen – raised around £150 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The charity has been relatively low key in recent years.
In 2014 30 musicians including Seal, Roger Taylor and Ed Sheeran got together to raise awareness of Ebola (corr) in Africa.
Latest accounts on the Charity Commission website state it has 'over £1m in its coffers though no staff or office.'
It handed out £809,672 in grants in 2019 mostly to African countries such as Sierra Leone to help poor villages decimated by Ebola.
In a statement the charity admitted it was increasing `licensing operations in response to demand’.
A source said: "The last time the world was in crisis with a pandemic in Ebola Bob and his team came up with Band Aid 30.
"We’re sure that he’s plotting something similar for coronavirus.
"But he’d never tell anyone until he get all the pieces in place as it would be a huge let down if it didn’t happen.
"The Live Aid brand has the potential to make millions as it’s so well known across the world.
"People would flock to buy t-shirts and other sorts of merch."
The Band Aid Charitable Trust trustees – Sir Bob, Ultravox frontman Midge Ure, ex-BBC boss Lord Grade, promoter Harvey Goldsmith, politician John Kennedy and Chris Morrison – released a statement admitting they were reviving Live Aid.
It states: "The Band Aid/Live Aid brands continue to have a role more than 30 years after the projects started.
"For all that time we have not felt the need to have a Live Aid trademark though we have had a Live 8 trademark.
"However the commercial world continues to become a more complex and opportunist environment and so the trustees took the view it would facilitate and protect our licensing operations if we had a registered trademark.
"There are no plans for a Live Aid concert but we may increase our merchandising and licensing operations in response to demand."
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