Beatles launch lawsuit to halt release of early recordings
Last Updated: Saturday, March 22, 2008 | 10:55 AM ET
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Lawyers for the Beatles are suing to block the release of early recordings by the band, reportedly made in Hamburg, Germany in 1962.
Apple Corps Ltd., the London company which represents the Beatles and their music, filed the lawsuit Friday against Fuego Entertainment Inc. of Florida and Jeffrey Collins over 15 tracks made during their performances at the Star Club in Hamburg.
The Beatles, shown in a pose for a 1965 album cover, played at a club in Hamburg, Germany just a month before signing a major recording contract.
(Robert Freeman/Apple Corps/Associated Press)
The performances also mark the first time Ringo Starr played with the group.
"This appears to us to be a garden-variety bootleg recording," said Paul LiCalsi, a lawyer for Apple Corps, which has filed for £7.6 million ($15.4 million Cdn) in damages.
The recordings include Paul McCartney singing Hank Williams' Lovesick Blues and McCartney and the late John Lennon doing a duet on Ask Me Why.
Fuego's president, Hugo Cancio, said he was planning to release the tracks in an album titled Jammin' with The Beatles and Friends, Star Club, Hamburg, 1962.
Cancio said it would be "unfair" to Beatles fans for the recordings to be silenced: "The world deserves to hear these tracks."
He also says the recordings are legal and alleges his company had been in "good-faith" conversations with Apple until just a few weeks ago.
Previous attempt at a release
Court documents say Collins had tried to release the Beatles recordings several years ago before he was sentenced to probation for violating sound recording piracy laws, unconnected with the Beatles material.
The Beatles performed at the club just a month before signing a record deal with EMI's Parlophone.
However, the lawsuit contends the contract with the club did not permit recordings and no one with the band gave permission either.
Lawyers for Apple also say the poor sound quality of the recordings "tarnishes" the band's legacy.
"Apple does not own the rights to the tape," Collins told Billboard magazine. "They're trying to bully us into giving up the masters, which they have no right to."
In 1991, Apple sued Sony Music Entertainment in New York to stop the distribution of some Star Club recordings. Sony agreed not to release certain recordings after hearing testimony from band members.
With files from the Associated Press
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