Bootleg Beatles release target of lawsuit

MIAMI, March 22 (UPI) -- The planned release of a bootleg recording of the Beatles in Germany is being opposed by Apple Corps. and Apple Records in a Miami lawsuit.

Billboard said the two companies filed a lawsuit in federal District Court in an attempt to block the release, alleging no permission has been given to release the 1962 recording from Germany's Star-Club.

The suit alleges while the recording was made at the Hamburg club a month before the British rock band signed a contract with EMI's Parlophone, the Beatles' contract did not permit any recordings to take place.

Jeffrey Collins, one of the co-defendants in the lawsuit, alleges the Beatles brand name has not been attached to the release and Apple has no just claim to the recording.

"Apple does not own the rights to the tape," Collins told Billboard. "They're trying to bully us into giving up the masters, which they have no right to. The group is called the Beatles. We haven't used the trade name -- we haven't released it."

Collins' co-defendants in the case include Fuego Entertainment, Fuego-Echo Music Group, Echo Vista and Fuego Chief Executive Officer Hugo Cancio.