AXL ROSE's Attorney: 'Clerical Error' Is To Blame For All Royalties Being Sent To Singer

August 26, 2005

Axl Rose's attorney has told the Los Angeles Times that "a clerical error" by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is to blame for all GUNS N' ROSES-related publishing royalties being sent to the singer, thereby bypassing the band's other partners, Slash and Duff McKagan.

Slash and Duff, otherwise known as Saul Hudson and Michael McKagan, are suing band leader Rose fraudulently naming himself sole administrator of the band's copyrights, jilting his former partners out of their shares of revenue that Hudson and McKagan's lawyer said totals about $500,000 a year.

The suit accuses Rose of "suffering an apparent attack of arrogance and ego" and says "he is no longer willing to acknowledge the contributions of his former partners and bandmates in having created some of rock's greatest hits."

But Howard Weitzman, Rose's lawyer, told the Los Angeles Times that the singer had asked to receive only his portion of royalties, and that the overpayment was due to a clerical error by the society. Weitzman said Rose had returned the extra funds to the organization.

Last year, Hudson and McKagan filed their first suit against Rose. This one alleged that the singer had wrongly claimed ownership of the group's assets after he quit GUNS N' ROSES in 1995. It also claimed that Rose had blocked Hudson and McKagan from licensing the band's recordings to movie producers, "costing the GUNS N' ROSES partnership millions of dollars to date." The case is pending.

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