JIMI HENDRIX Estate Wins Big After Recent Legal Battle Over Early Recordings
April 13, 2007, 17 years ago
According to Harpmagazine.com, after years of legal wrestling, the family estate of JIMI HENDRIX has recently obtained a stipulated court order for nearly $900,000 leveled at music entrepreneur Ed Chalpin. The order stems from a 2006 lawsuit between Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and two of Chalpin’s companies.
The case has its roots in a 2001 dispute in the UK High Court where Experience Hendrix challenged the full extent of Chalpin’s PPX Enterprise’s ownership of 33 Hendrix masters. The recordings mostly come from 1965, when Hendrix was an unknown guitarist backing up Curtis Knight & The Squires.
In 2003, the UK High court ruled in favor of Experience Hendrix, ruling that PPX/Chalpin would have to pay royalties to the Hendrix estate for the masters. A New York court upheld the decision later that year, stating Chalpin owed Experience Hendrix $725,868. Chalpin chose to ignore the court rulings, defaulting on his payments.
Last year, Chalpin attempted to auction off the 33 masters in a separate PPX-related company not explicitly subject to the prior rulings. Judge Kaplan immediately prohibited Chalpin from selling the masters. Shortly after being held in contempt in February 2007, Chalpin agreed to pay up. His lawyers had complained the legal action devalued the recordings up for auction, to which Judge Kaplan had this to say:
“That is like saying because you decided to hold an auction on the steps of the courthouse in which Mr. Chalpin is going to sell the George Washington Bridge, the lack of bids would mean it has no value. The lack of bids would mean that somebody understands that the Port Authority owns it.”
