Rick James Estate Sues Former Publisher

The estate of late funk singer Rick James is suing a music publishing company it claims collected money from licensing his songs without permission.

The lawsuit, filed March 15 in Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages. It accuses California-based Brooklyn Music Publishing Group Inc. of collecting money from European music publishers and making new foreign deals without authority.

Music publishing rights are the rights to use a song composition for various reasons, such as using the tune in commercials, but they do not include rights to the actual recordings, which are typically held by record companies, said Larry Iser, the attorney who filed the lawsuit.

The company also has withheld key licensing information for songs and even some master recordings, the lawsuit contends.

Dozens of James' compositions are involved, Iser said.

A call to Brooklyn's attorney, Vincent Chieffo, wasn't immediately returned Thursday.

Brooklyn had a long-term contract to oversee the publishing rights to some of James' compositions, although not to his hit "Super Freak."

When James died in 2004, his trust decided not to renew the agreement, instead awarding the publishing rights to another company in January 2007.

However, Brooklyn has "essentially refused to stop administering the compositions," the lawsuit claimed.

That has made it "difficult, impractical and, in certain instances, impossible" to collect revenue from some songs, the lawsuit claimed.