News broke right before Thanksgiving of a lawsuit that Daryl Hall had filed against John Oates, and an accompanying restraining order Hall had been issued against Oates. Associated Press reports that the contents of the suit, previously sealed, have now been revealed, in part; a judge has temporarily blocked Oates’ sale of his share of the duo’s joint venture, which Hall says would violate the terms of their business agreement. More from Associated Press:
A Nashville chancery court judge issued the temporary restraining order on Nov. 16, writing that Oates and others involved in his trust can’t move to close the sale of their share of Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC until an arbitrator in a separately filed case weighs in on the deal, or until the judge’s order expires — typically within 15 days, unless a judge extends the deadline.
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Although the publicly released version of the lawsuit didn’t specify what’s at stake in the sale, Primary Wave has already owned “significant interest” in Hall and Oates’ song catalog for more than 15 years.
As Variety points out, Primary Wave announced the acquisition of a “significant interest in the song catalog of Daryl Hall & John Oates” in February of 2007. Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed, but New York Post reported at the time that according to industry insiders, Primary Wave was “likely acquiring more than 50 percent interest” in their catalog, at a price between $25 and $50 million.
Speaking with Sky News in 2021, Hall advised artists to think twice about selling their back catalogues, hinting at his own history as a cautionary tale. “Oh, in the early days, it got sold off for me and I didn’t get the money,” he told Sky News at the time. “I have a bit of my publishing, but a lot of bad business was done in the early days – I’m a real rock and roll story when it comes to that kind of thing.”
The next court hearing on the matter is scheduled for November 30. Stay tuned for more details.
