George Clinton ignited a $100 million copyright lawsuit against longtime nemesis Armen Boladian and his affiliated companies outside Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theater, vowing to reclaim his musical legacy and protect his family’s financial future.
Flanked by renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the Parliament-Funkadelic founder accused Boladian and his company, Bridgeport Music and others of fraudulently snatching copyrights to nearly 90% of his legendary music catalog, per Variety. The lawsuit, officially filed Tuesday (March 11) in Florida District Court, alleges these entities engaged in deceptive practices, copyright infringement, breach of fiduciary duty and outright fraud.
In a fiery press conference, Clinton didn’t mince words.
“These songs we’re talking about is my history,” Clinton began. “I have to fight for them; I have to make sure that I did not do all of this my whole life and have my family here, not get what’s due to them, what they inherit. We don’t have a chance to pass down 40 acres and mules to our families. We do not have the copyrights for the songs. So I’m here along with Ben and partners to make sure that Armen does not get what we worked so hard for.”
The legendary funk pioneer accused Boladian of fabricating documents between 1982 and 1985 to grant himself additional rights over Clinton’s compositions unlawfully.
The suit also claims Boladian deliberately diluted Clinton’s rightful royalties by adding fake names and pseudonyms to copyright registrations, withholding millions of dollars owed to Clinton and orchestrating unauthorized deals with third-party labels without his approval.
George Clinton urged fellow artists to remain vigilant, declaring, “I will continue to speak truth to power and to fight against the forces that have separated so many songwriters from their music. I encourage all my fellow artists to investigate, interrogate, litigate, unseal, reveal. If we don’t get this right, then they win, and I refuse to let them win.”
He added, “This is about my family and the family of the other legacy artists and us being able to give generational wealth to our family from our intellectual property.”
This isn’t the first clash between Clinton and Boladian. Back in 2001, Boladian launched a flurry of lawsuits against artists who sampled Clinton’s iconic tracks, yet Clinton claims he was excluded from reaping any profits.
Clinton lost a copyright dispute the same year when a Florida court sided with Boladian, granting Bridgeport Music rights to Clinton’s songs from 1976–1983.
However, in 2021, Clinton scored a victory when Boladian lost a defamation lawsuit against him over allegations made in Clinton’s autobiography regarding deceptive business tactics.
Boladian’s legal team swiftly dismissed Clinton’s latest allegations, labeling the lawsuit as meritless and highlighting Clinton’s previous courtroom defeats on similar claims.
