September 6, 2025
Clinton scored a decisive win in federal court docket after a decide dismissed claims by the late Bernie Worrell’s property that the Parliament-Funkadelic co-founder was owed co-ownership and royalties on lots of of traditional funk tracks.
George Clinton has secured a authorized victory in a long-running battle over possession of Parliament-Funkadelic’s catalog, after a federal decide dismissed claims that late keyboardist Bernie Worrell ought to be acknowledged as a co-creator of the band’s work from the Nineteen Seventies. The choice, issued Sept. 4 by Choose F. Kay Behm in Detroit, ends a lawsuit filed in 2022.
In accordance to Billboard, the lawsuit was initially filed by Judie Worrell, who manages her late husband’s property. Bernie Worrell, a key member of Parliament-Funkadelic from 1969 to 1981, died of lung most cancers in 2016. His property had argued he was a joint proprietor of 264 P-Funk tracks, together with classics resembling “Flash Mild” and “One Nation Underneath a Groove,” and sought rights to royalties from these songs.
Clinton is broadly credited because the singer and frontman of P-Funk.
Choose Behm, nevertheless, dominated the case fell outdoors the statute of limitations for copyright claims, which is three years from the time somebody is aware of their work might have been infringed.
“Sadly for plaintiff, Worrell was not fairly diligent in defending his alleged co-authorship or possession rights for many years,” Behm wrote. “Worrell’s possession claims accrued nicely earlier than 2020, both when the works had been recorded and he was not credited or when Worrell discovered that he was not receiving the royalties to which he was allegedly entitled, no later than the late Nineteen Eighties.”
Clinton’s legal professional, Jim Allen, welcomed the choice, telling Billboard he was “happy that the court docket introduced closure to 50 years of false and malicious accusations.”
“George Clinton is a musical genius, and it’s unlucky that he has needed to endure these misguided allegations for the previous a number of years,” Allen stated. “The Lord stated, let there be funk — and no pretenders can shut it down or take it away. To all the P-Funk household, we stay One Nation Underneath a Groove”.
The Worrell property didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The ruling is the most recent chapter in many years of lawsuits between Clinton and Worrell. The 2 first clashed Nineteen Eighties over sound recording royalties, and Worrell’s property pursued a number of lawsuits after his demise, together with a 2019 case tied to a 1976 contract. That contract was later deemed invalid as a result of Clinton by no means signed it, which led to the most recent possession dispute.
Clinton, in the meantime, has fought a number of different authorized battles surrounding his catalog, most prominently with former agent Armen Boladian of Bridgeport Music, which controls 90 p.c of Clinton’s publishing rights. Clinton sued Boladian once more earlier this 12 months, accusing Bridgeport of utilizing “fraud and deception” to grab management of his catalog, claims Boladian has denied.
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