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Sid Bernstein Presents LLC sued before this week's scheduled
release in theaters and on Hulu of "Eight Days a Week: The
Touring Years," a Ron Howard-directed documentary about Beatles
concerts from the dawn of Beatlemania through 1966.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Sid Bernstein, who died in 2013, was a promoter who helped bring
the Beatles to the United States from their native Britain.
The complaint said he also helped stage the group's Aug. 15,
1965, performance at Shea, and arranged for TV variety show host
Ed Sullivan's production company to film it.
But the plaintiff, which said it was assigned Bernstein's
rights, said the group's manager, Brian Epstein, took custody of
the "Master Tapes" and began using them without seeking consent.
It said the recording was later used in the 1966 movie "The
Beatles at Shea Stadium," the 1995 documentary "The Beatles
Anthology," and the 2010 documentary "The Last Play at Shea"
about Billy Joel's concerts there two years earlier.
The plaintiff said it sued after the U.S. Copyright Office
refused to register its copyright claim, and after learning that
Apple planned to release a remastered version of the Beatles'
performance with the "Eight Days a Week" documentary.
Its lawsuit seeks a variety of damages and a declaration that
Bernstein was the "dominant, and hence sole, author of the
copyrightable work embodied in the Master Tapes."
A lawyer for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
The case is Sid Bernstein Presents LLC v Apple Corps Ltd et al,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.
16-07084.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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