Article about Flo vs. Motown

[blackguy69]

saw this in my Facebook feed hope y’ Can read it

[marv2]

It is hard to read. It looks like a Jet Magazine article.

[milven]

It is hard to read. It looks like a Jet Magazine article.

The article is about a lawsuit that Flo took against Berry, Mary and Diana for conspiring to oust her from the group.

The outcome of the suit was that Flo settled with Motown for close to $ 143.000 for rights and royalties.

I guess this was when she gave up her right to future royalties and the Supremes’ name.

Flo’s lawyer wanted Diana, Mary and Cindy to stop using the Supremes’ name, which he said was worth a million dollars. I guess in the end, he took the much less Motown offer for settlement.

Her lawyer was Gerald K Dent. Was he the lawyer who ripped her off?

[reese]

The article is about a lawsuit that Flo took against Berry, Mary and Diana for conspiring to oust her from the group.

The outcome of the suit was that Flo settled with Motown for close to $ 143.000 for rights and royalties.

I guess this was when she gave up her right to future royalties and the Supremes’ name.

Flo’s lawyer wanted Diana, Mary and Cindy to stop using the Supremes’ name, which he said was worth a million dollars. I guess in the end, he took the much less Motown offer for settlement.

Her lawyer was Gerald K Dent. Was he the lawyer who ripped her off?

This article is from 1971, when Flo sued for $8.7 million. She didn't settle. I believe the suit was dismissed when Flo couldn't give back the $160,000 she had previously received in 1968.

Leonard Baun was the lawyer who ripped her off. Much later, she managed to get some money out of him.

[reese]

https://books.google.com/books?id=uT...201971&f=false

[milven]

This article is from 1971, when Flo sued for $8.7 million. She didn't settle. I believe the suit was dismissed when Flo couldn't give back the $160,000 she had previously received in 1968.

Leonard Baun was the lawyer who ripped her off. Much later, she managed to get some money out of him.

Thank you. It is much easier to read the link that you supplied. Do I understand the article correctly? Was she trying to stop Motown from using the Supremes' name? Wasn't it discovered years later when Mary was in a battle with Motown to use the name, that Motown had never actually registered or copyrighted the name and did so on the down-low during the dispute with Mary?

I'm usually wrong about many of these things, but there are plenty of Supreme fans here who can correct and educate me

[reese]

There's so many twists and turns when it comes to these lawsuits. Without the books in front of me, I'll leave it to someone else. But I do recall reading in Mary's book combo that there were some slick moves made when it came to registering the name. I think she alleged crossed out addresses, letters deliberately not being sent on time, and things like that.

Excerpts from Flo's 1971 suit:

https://books.google.com/books?id=iU...20dent&f=false

[jobeterob]

Interesting that it says they were selling 750,000 records a month

[sup_fan]

Thank you. It is much easier to read the link that you supplied. Do I understand the article correctly? Was she trying to stop Motown from using the Supremes' name? Wasn't it discovered years later when Mary was in a battle with Motown to use the name, that Motown had never actually registered or copyrighted the name and did so on the down-low during the dispute with Mary?

I'm usually wrong about many of these things, but there are plenty of Supreme fans here who can correct and educate me

yes - according to Mary's updated release of Dreamgirl/Sup Faith, she talks in more details about the fight for ownership of the name supremes. according to mary's book, she and her lawyer discovered that motown had NOT filed for copyright and so mary quickly did so. this might have late 73 or 74.

then at a later date her lawyer told her "oops we were wrong, motown DOES have the copywrite." but as mary more recently went through all of the documents, she states that she discovered that her application was submitted first and accepted but that the paperwork was sent to motown. or else when her lawyer got the papers, he sent them to motown. they then changed the application so that THEY were the owner, not mary.

mary's claim is that the lawyer was dishonest with her and basically in cahoots with motown. if i remember correctly, she ends this part of the story saying that she was looking into what legal action against the lawyer. never heard anything more though

[jobeterob]

Mary’s recollection sounds like she was very mixed up; either that or her and Florence only knew and hired crooked lawyers

[sup_fan]

i've never heard much else about the situation so we only have the 1 viewpoint of Mary's.

as i've found with most things Supreme, reading all of the different viewpoints allows one to aggregate the info and see all sides of a story.