Hall & Oates Legal Dispute Gains Clarity In Court Ruling Blocking Sale Of Joint Venture Share

Bruce Haring
·1 min read
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Hall & Oates business dispute, which has been under wraps in sealed court documents, is now being litigated in open court, making the reasons for their legal clash clearer.

Today, a judge in Nashville, Tenn. ruled in Daryl Hall’s favor, upholding his request to keep John Oates temporarily blocked from selling his share of the Hall & Oates duo’s joint venture without his longtime partner’s permission.

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The duo were represented by attorneys and were not present in court.

Hall’s attorneys claimed Oates violated the duo’s contract by moving to sell his portion of one of their business partnerships without Hall’s approval. That’s now blocked while a separate arbitration hearing on the dispute goes on. The arbitrator has until Feb. 17 to rule.

Oates is attempting to sell his share of Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC. Primary Wave has already owned “significant interest” in Hall and Oates’ song catalog for more than 15 years.

The joint venture between Hall and Oates includes Hall & Oates trademarks, personal name and likeness rights, record royalty income and website and social media assets, according to a court declaration by Hall, who has called Oates’ planned sale the “ultimate partnership betrayal.”

Today’s hearing also spotlighted Hall’s rage at his longtime partner. In his declaration, Hall claimed that Oates blindsided and betrayed him, that their relationship and his trust in his musical partner have deteriorated, and that Oates timed the sale when Hall was about to go on tour to maximize the harm to him.

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