George Clinton ignited a $100 million copyright lawsuit in opposition to longtime nemesis Armen Boladian and his affiliated firms outdoors Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theater, vowing to reclaim his musical legacy and defend his household’s monetary future.
Flanked by famend civil rights legal professional Ben Crump, the Parliament-Funkadelic founder accused Boladian and his firm, Bridgeport Music and others of fraudulently snatching copyrights to just about 90% of his legendary music catalog, per Selection. The lawsuit, formally filed Tuesday (March 11) in Florida District Courtroom, alleges these entities engaged in misleading practices, copyright infringement, breach of fiduciary responsibility and outright fraud.
In a fiery press convention, Clinton didn’t mince phrases.
“These songs we’re speaking about is my historical past,” Clinton started. “I’ve to struggle for them; I’ve to ensure that I didn’t do all of this my complete life and have my household right here, not get what’s on account of them, what they inherit. We don’t have an opportunity to move down 40 acres and mules to our households. We shouldn’t have the copyrights for the songs. So I’m right here together with Ben and companions to ensure that Armen doesn’t get what we labored so exhausting for.”
The legendary funk pioneer accused Boladian of fabricating paperwork between 1982 and 1985 to grant himself further rights over Clinton’s compositions unlawfully.
The swimsuit additionally claims Boladian intentionally diluted Clinton’s rightful royalties by including pretend names and pseudonyms to copyright registrations, withholding hundreds of thousands of {dollars} owed to Clinton and orchestrating unauthorized offers with third-party labels with out his approval.
George Clinton urged fellow artists to stay vigilant, declaring, “I’ll proceed to talk fact to energy and to struggle in opposition to the forces which have separated so many songwriters from their music. I encourage all my fellow artists to analyze, interrogate, litigate, unseal, reveal. If we don’t get this proper, then they win, and I refuse to allow them to win.”
He added, “That is about my household and the household of the opposite legacy artists and us with the ability to give generational wealth to our household from our mental property.”
This isn’t the primary conflict between Clinton and Boladian. Again in 2001, Boladian launched a flurry of lawsuits in opposition to artists who sampled Clinton’s iconic tracks, but Clinton claims he was excluded from reaping any earnings.
Clinton misplaced a copyright dispute the identical 12 months when a Florida courtroom sided with Boladian, granting Bridgeport Music rights to Clinton’s songs from 1976–1983.
Nevertheless, in 2021, Clinton scored a victory when Boladian misplaced a defamation lawsuit in opposition to him over allegations made in Clinton’s autobiography concerning misleading enterprise techniques.
Boladian’s authorized group swiftly dismissed Clinton’s newest allegations, labeling the lawsuit as meritless and highlighting Clinton’s earlier courtroom defeats on related claims.
