JIMI HENDRIX Family Back In Court Over 'Publicity Rights'

June 6, 2007

Mike Lewis of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

Competing Jimi Hendrix family factions squared off again Tuesday, this time in federal appeals court over a technical legal fight over who, if anyone, owns the "publicity rights" associated with the long-dead rock star.

Under questioning from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, plaintiff's attorney Brad Hudson called the case a choice between state laws: Washington's, where the company controlling most Hendrix assets is based; or New York, the guitar hero's official residence when he died in a London apartment in 1970.

Hudson, representing Experience Hendrix LLC, is seeking Washington's more restrictive interpretation that grants stronger post-death publicity rights to those who inherit an estate.

Conversely, New York only recognizes publicity rights — quasi property rights associated with a person's image, signature or name or voice — while a person remains alive.

The defendant, The James Marshall Hendrix Foundation, is seeking the looser New York standard.

At stake is the right to use Hendrix's image in a limited way.

Read more at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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