Hendrix auction stirs rights clash

The rights to reproduce hundreds of recordings by the late Jimi Hendrix are slated to be auctioned in New York in October, a potentially lucrative catalog from a musician who still sells more than 600,000 albums annually.

The problem is that two parties claim they own the rights: a company run by members of the legendary rock guitarist’s family and the estate of Hendrix’s former manager.

It’s the latest battle over the control and profits of the guitarist’s legacy since he died in 1970 in a London hotel at the age of 27.

The party trying to sell the rights is the Michael Frank Jeffery Estate, named for Hendrix’s manager, who died in a plane accident in 1973. The estate claims to own the rights to Hendrix’s master recordings, the rights to reproduce them and, in some instances, the publishing rights to about 250 songs, including “Foxy Lady” and “Purple Haze,” said Dean Becker, vice chairman of Ocean Tomo, a Chicago-based merchant bank whose Ocean Tomo Auctions division will conduct the intellectual-property sale.

But Janie Hendrix, the musician’s stepsister, said that the Seattle-based firm she heads, Experience Hendrix, controls the rights to his music, performances and personality. An attorney for the firm said they are in discussions with Ocean Tomo and hope to resolve the situation “amicably.”