David Cassidy on the Web
'It's a scam': David Cassidy sues Sony for millions after 'not getting his rightful share of profits' for the Partridge Family
October 6, 2011
By Mike Larkin
www.dailymail.co.uk
'Scammed': Former teen idol David Cassidy is suing for money he claims he is owed for merchandise rights it emerged today
He was an international pop icon known around the world for his role as Keith in wildly successful 70s sitcom The Partridge Family.
But it has emerged former teen idol David Cassidy is suing Sony, claiming he was not paid for his image on merchandise from the hit television show, which followed a group of musical siblings.
In legal papers filed at the Los Angeles County Superior Court today the star claims he has been ripped off for decades.
The lawsuit says: '"For nearly 40 years, defendants have swindled Mr. Cassidy out of his rightful share of the profits from The Partridge Family, and when Mr. Cassidy has inquired as to the matter, have lied to him so as to continue to conceal their deception.
'Mr. Cassidy has reason to believe, and does reasonably believe, that defendants have been perpetrating a scam.'
Later on the papers it is claimed they 'will continue to go to any and all lengths necessary, no matter how despicable, to avoid upholding' his contract.
The defendants in the case are Sony Pictures Entertainment, and subsidiaries Screen Gems Inc. and CPT Holdings Inc.
The suit, which has been filed by attorneys Kenneth Linzer, Rachael Shinoskie and Elisha Weiner, also details how huge a celebrity Mr Cassidy was at the height of the show, and how much money he would have generated.
It says: 'Mr. Cassidy quickly became a teen idol. At the height of the show's success, he received an average of 30,000 letters from fans a week; having the largest fan club in the world in its day, surpassing even Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
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'All of which, it has been reported by knowledgeable news sources, generated nearly $500 million for defendants.'
No doubt bosses at the companies will be sweating, as Mr Cassidy is demanding 'in excess of millions of dollars, in amount to be determined at trial.'
Mr Cassidy, 61, said he just wants to receive the money he is due, and blamed the multinational corporation for allowing the case to get this far.
He told CNN: 'It's just a matter of being fair, and doing the right thing.
'I have no other alternative if Sony is not going to be reasonable.
'I'm going to let a jury decide if David Cassidy is entitled to his fair share.
'I'm asking for fairness, I'm asking to be treated with respect as opposed to, 'we don't owe you anything.'
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He said his former manager told him he has only been paid about $5,000 for merchandise.
This was despite the fact the show was one of the first to be merchandised on a worldwide scale.
Among the money-making products carrying the progammes name are board games, magazines, colouring books, posters, pillow cases, toy guitars and lunch boxes.
There were also beach towels, pencil cases, comic books, children's' clothing, music sales and even specially printed dollar bills.
Under his 1971 contract with production company Screen Gems he was supposed to get 15 percent of net merchandising revenues for the use of his image, voice or likeness.
In addition he would get no more than half of that for items in which that if other cast members appeared.
There were promises in the contract to provide financial statements for merchandising.
But it is being claimed Sony has 'either never provided such accountings and reports, or provided such accountings and reports only begrudgingly, inconsistently, inaccurately and fraudulently.'
They won't be smiling now: The chirpy sitcom family did not know they would be having a legal fight 40 years later
In May Mr Cassidy's attorney sent a letter to Sony Pictures Television requested a full accounting of the merchandise, any use and exploitation of his name, and full payment for money owed.
However the firm's executive vice president of legal affairs Gregory Boone said Sony 'could not (and so far as we know did not) enter into any new merchandising licenses' using Cassidy's 'name, voice and likeness rights' after the show went off the air.
'We have searched for copies of the merchandising net proceeds rendered to Mr. Cassidy in the 1970s, but have been unable to locate them.
'However, we did find some correspondence...showing that Mr. Cassidy's representatives audited such statements. Therefore, they must have been rendered to him.'
He also said any potential claims are invalid because the 'statutes of limitation' had expired decades ago.
Mr Cassidy claims the reason he waited so long before raising the merchandising issue was he did not have a copy of his contract until he found it in a box that he hadn't opened since the 1970s.
He is also claiming he should get cash for new Partridge Family merchandise being produced.
Examples of this include a 2001 toy bus and model kit , a toy hamster that sings I Think I Love You, and another bus produced in 2003.
Family bus-t-up: A model of the Partridge's famous bus is one of the new items of merchandise David is fuming about
The only other cast member who said he received money from merchandising is Brian Forster, who replaced Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris Partridge is the second season.
He revealed he received about $1,100, after his mother demanded payment from the studio.
Other cast members said they either didn't have a merchandising clause in their contracts or do not remember getting paid.
A Sony spokeswoman said the company does not comment on active legal matters, and also refused to comment on the new merchandise.
Mr Cassidy is not the only 70s sitcom star to launch legal action over merchandise.
Happy Days cast members Don Most, Anson Williams, Marion Ross, Erin Moran, and the widow of Tom Bosley, filed a $10 million suit in April claiming CBS failed to pay them for goods still being sold around the world.
