Post by yerblues1968 on Apr 5, 2008 14:25:08 GMT -5
Posted on Friday, April 4, 2008
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
A London company representing The Beatles has won the first legal round to stop a Miami Lakes business from releasing rare live recordings of the group at a German club in 1962.
Apple Corps Limited and Fuego Entertainment, Inc. struck an agreement approved by a Miami federal judge on Friday that requires Fuego to halt plans to release eight song recordings featuring Ringo Starr on drums as a Beatle for the first time.
The injunction also requires Fuego to remove any information about the planned music release from its website, which has featured a sales pitch to customers to buy the CD. And it requires Fuego to cease any use of the trademark, The Beatles, for commercial purposes.
The temporary injunction remains in effect until a lawsuit is resolved.
Apple's lawyers said Fuego and its partners have no right to release the Hamburg Star-Club music, noting the historic recordings were made surreptitiously without The Beatles' permission. Those gigs in late 1962 -- following the group's hit single Love Me Do -- are believed to be the first live recordings of the Fab Four.
The dispute started in January, when Fuego Entertainment, along with a British promoter, announced plans to sell the eight ''lost'' club recordings of The Beatles. In addition to obtaining the temporary injunction, Apple is also seeking $15 million in the lawsuit filed against Fuego, its president, Hugo Cancio, and the company's partner, British promoter Jeffrey Collins.
''I think their agreeing to an injunction was a rational step,'' Apples' New York attorney, Paul LiCalsi, said Wednesday. He and Miami lawyer Richard Wolfe filed the suit last month.
''They are finally coming to terms with the fact that The Beatles never gave permission to record this material and The Beatles are never going to give Fuego permission to exploit it,'' LiCalsi said. ``We're looking forward to proving our damages, which resulted from their recording infringement.''
At the core of the lawsuit: a 15-track album that boasts eight songs never released as an LP or single. Among the claimed recordings: McCartney singing Hank Williams' Lovesick Blues and George Harrison vocalizing Maurice Williams' Do You Believe -- along with McCartney and John Lennon on Ask Me Why.
The other songs: Twist and Shout, I Saw Her Standing There, Hippy Hippy Shake, A Taste of Honey and Money.
Cancio and Collins -- partners in Echo-Fuego Music Group -- contend they have the legal rights to the Star-Club recordings. In a press release, Fuego Entertainment, a publicly traded company that acquires, produces and distributes music, downplayed the significance of the court injunction.
''The agreement . . . expressly states that it is not to be construed as an admission of the validity of Apple's claim that the recordings were not authorized by the Beatles,'' according to the release.
``Contrary to statements made . . . by Apple's attorneys, Fuego steadfastly maintains its claim that it legally acquired the historic recordings and continues to believe that it will be able to release the recordings in the future.
'In fact, Fuego had hoped to work with Apple on the release of the recordings. Unfortunately, Apple apparently prefers to litigate this matter, both in court and through the media, and has demanded that these historic recordings be destroyed rather than allowing them to be released to the Beatles' fans.''
Apple's lawyers strongly disagreed with every one of Fuego's assertions. They said no joint deal was ever in the works and would be considered, stressing the Star-Club recordings belong to The Beatles and no else can use them.
No trial date has been set for the case, which is being handled by U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler. He signed the injunction agreement late Friday.
Although pop music's most famous group broke up long ago -- and two of its members have died -- The Beatles and their survivors have fought alleged recording infringements in Europe and the United States for decades.
In the Miami suit, Apple claims Fuego's planned sale of ''inferior quality recordings of Beatles performances . . . tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image'' of the group.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
A London company representing The Beatles has won the first legal round to stop a Miami Lakes business from releasing rare live recordings of the group at a German club in 1962.
Apple Corps Limited and Fuego Entertainment, Inc. struck an agreement approved by a Miami federal judge on Friday that requires Fuego to halt plans to release eight song recordings featuring Ringo Starr on drums as a Beatle for the first time.
The injunction also requires Fuego to remove any information about the planned music release from its website, which has featured a sales pitch to customers to buy the CD. And it requires Fuego to cease any use of the trademark, The Beatles, for commercial purposes.
The temporary injunction remains in effect until a lawsuit is resolved.
Apple's lawyers said Fuego and its partners have no right to release the Hamburg Star-Club music, noting the historic recordings were made surreptitiously without The Beatles' permission. Those gigs in late 1962 -- following the group's hit single Love Me Do -- are believed to be the first live recordings of the Fab Four.
The dispute started in January, when Fuego Entertainment, along with a British promoter, announced plans to sell the eight ''lost'' club recordings of The Beatles. In addition to obtaining the temporary injunction, Apple is also seeking $15 million in the lawsuit filed against Fuego, its president, Hugo Cancio, and the company's partner, British promoter Jeffrey Collins.
''I think their agreeing to an injunction was a rational step,'' Apples' New York attorney, Paul LiCalsi, said Wednesday. He and Miami lawyer Richard Wolfe filed the suit last month.
''They are finally coming to terms with the fact that The Beatles never gave permission to record this material and The Beatles are never going to give Fuego permission to exploit it,'' LiCalsi said. ``We're looking forward to proving our damages, which resulted from their recording infringement.''
At the core of the lawsuit: a 15-track album that boasts eight songs never released as an LP or single. Among the claimed recordings: McCartney singing Hank Williams' Lovesick Blues and George Harrison vocalizing Maurice Williams' Do You Believe -- along with McCartney and John Lennon on Ask Me Why.
The other songs: Twist and Shout, I Saw Her Standing There, Hippy Hippy Shake, A Taste of Honey and Money.
Cancio and Collins -- partners in Echo-Fuego Music Group -- contend they have the legal rights to the Star-Club recordings. In a press release, Fuego Entertainment, a publicly traded company that acquires, produces and distributes music, downplayed the significance of the court injunction.
''The agreement . . . expressly states that it is not to be construed as an admission of the validity of Apple's claim that the recordings were not authorized by the Beatles,'' according to the release.
``Contrary to statements made . . . by Apple's attorneys, Fuego steadfastly maintains its claim that it legally acquired the historic recordings and continues to believe that it will be able to release the recordings in the future.
'In fact, Fuego had hoped to work with Apple on the release of the recordings. Unfortunately, Apple apparently prefers to litigate this matter, both in court and through the media, and has demanded that these historic recordings be destroyed rather than allowing them to be released to the Beatles' fans.''
Apple's lawyers strongly disagreed with every one of Fuego's assertions. They said no joint deal was ever in the works and would be considered, stressing the Star-Club recordings belong to The Beatles and no else can use them.
No trial date has been set for the case, which is being handled by U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler. He signed the injunction agreement late Friday.
Although pop music's most famous group broke up long ago -- and two of its members have died -- The Beatles and their survivors have fought alleged recording infringements in Europe and the United States for decades.
In the Miami suit, Apple claims Fuego's planned sale of ''inferior quality recordings of Beatles performances . . . tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image'' of the group.