KEY POINTS:
The estate of late funk singer Rick James is suing a California music publishing company it claims licensed James' songs without permission, collecting money from European music publishers and making new foreign deals without authority. The suit against California-based Brooklyn Music Publishing Group Inc was filed on March 15 and seeks unspecified damages.
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 awarded the publishing rights to another company.
However, Brooklyn has "essentially refused to stop administering the compositions," the suit claimed.
