The extended legal dispute over rights to the Beach Boys’ name has finally found a settlement with the three surviving original members of the 1960s iconic group apparently finding peace at last.
The agreement was reached on Wednesday after two days of talks mediated by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and brought closure to years of litigation among original Beach Boys members Brian Wilson, cousin Mike Love and Al Jardine.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but it was apparently an arrangement that left all involved satisfied.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alexander Williams sat down Tuesday with Love, Jardine and their lawyers in an attempt to prevent a trial stemming from Love’s claim that Jardine owes him more than $2 million in attorney’s fees from previous litigation, E!Online reports.
Wilson’s presence during part of the discussions seemed to indicate that a conclusion could finally be brought not only to the years of litigation but also to the strained relations between band members.
After the settlement was agreed on, lawyers suggested that its amicable nature could pave the way to a re-warming up of musical relations between the threesome.
“Mr. Love and Mr. Jardine are looking forward to bringing more Beach Boys music around the world as the group approaches its 50th anniversary,” said Carla A. DiMare, an attorney for the Carl Wilson Trust, which represents the late Beach Boy’s family, E!Online reports.
Wilson, Love and Jardine are all shareholders of the band’s corporate entity, Brother Records Inc, along with the Carl Wilson estate. Carl Wilson passed away in 1998, succumbing to cancer. A fifth founding member, brother Dennis Wilson, drowned in 1983.
Brother Records Inc owns the Beach Boys’ trademark.
Jardine had made use of the Beach Boys name while touring under such billings as “Beach Boys Family & Friends,” when a federal judge ruled in 2000 that it was trademark infringement. Jardine was not joined in those bands he fronted by any other original Beach Boy.
Love, Wilson and the estate of his brother, Carl, sued Jardine in 2003 and a U. S. appeals court upheld the earlier ruling. Love and the Carl Wilson estate sued Jardine again on behalf of Brother Records in 2004 seeking $2.2 million in legal fees spent in the original litigation against him, per Reuters.
This case was set for trial next month but was instead settled this week.
While they have been at odds over legal matters, Wilson, Jardine and Love have also been able to reunite on stage. The three reunited in June 2006 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album “Pet Sounds” and the double-platinum certification of their greatest hits collection, “Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys.”