An appellate court ruled that a jury must decide whether the statute of limitations applies to a 1976 contract between George Clinton and the late Bernie Worrell, reopening a lawsuit over ownership of early P Funk recordings. The decision narrows the case to songs from 1976‑1979 and sends it back to district court for trial.
George Clinton was honored at the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum 2026 Grammy Hall Of Fame Gala held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on May 8 2026.
The ceremony was largely eclipsed by a dramatic development in a long‑standing legal battle over the ownership of the P Funk masters involving Clinton and the late Bernie Worrell. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decisive opinion on May 27 reversing a lower‑court dismissal and sending the dispute back to a federal district court for a jury trial.
The appellate panel ruled that the question of whether the claims are time‑barred belongs to the fact‑finder, not to the judge, opening the door for the Worrell estate to pursue copyright ownership claims that date back more than fifty years. The controversy stems from a 1976 contract between Worrell and Clinton in which the celebrated keyboardist gave up his ownership stake in the P Funk recordings in exchange for royalty payments.
Over the decades the parties fought over how those royalties should be divided, both while Worrell was alive and after his death. In 2020 Clinton's lawyers asserted that the 1976 agreement was void because Clinton never signed it, prompting the Worrell estate to file a new lawsuit alleging that Worrell never relinquished his share of the masters.
The appellate court noted that the statute of limitations for such copyright‑ownership claims is ambiguous - it might have expired decades ago or might have only begun to run in 2020 when the contract was first challenged. The judges limited the potential trial to the songs explicitly covered by the 1976 agreement, which were recorded between 1976 and 1979, rather than the entire catalog spanning Worrell's tenure with P Funk from 1969 to 1981.
Clinton's attorneys also argued that the estate lacked sufficient proof that Worrell co‑created the disputed tracks, seeking to have the case dismissed. The Sixth Circuit rejected that argument, pointing to Clinton's own admissions during the litigation that Worrell was a pioneering force in analog synthesis, contributed a unique sonic palette, and possessed perfect pitch and a deep classical background. Those statements, the court said, contradict any notion of Worrell as merely a hired session player.
The decision therefore restores the possibility of a jury hearing evidence on both the ownership and authorship of the selected tracks. Following the ruling, the case will return to the district court for pre‑trial proceedings unless the parties reach a settlement. A representative for the Worrell estate hailed the appellate decision as a significant step forward, emphasizing that Bernie Worrell was the heart and soul of Parliament Funkadelic and that his widow Judie continues to defend his rights.
Clinton's counsel expressed disagreement with the appellate judgment, describing it as requiring unusual leaps in logic and precedent to revive a long‑defunct agreement for modern copyright claims. Nevertheless, Clinton's lawyer stressed that the ruling is narrow, covering only a small fraction of the extensive body of work that Clinton created and led, and expressed confidence that the forthcoming trial will vindicate his position.
The legal showdown adds a new dimension to the ongoing saga of the P Funk legacy, illustrating how artistic contributions from the golden age of analog synthesis continue to spark fierce disputes over intellectual property and royalty distribution.
George Clinton Bernie Worrell Copyright Lawsuit Sixth Circuit P Funk
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