Earlier this year, Amy Helm was forced out of her role running Levon Helm Studios, the concert venue and studio space that bears her father’s name. The studio's new management has now filed a lawsuit against her in federal court.
The lawsuit alleges trademark infringement against Amy Helm and several colleagues with whom she previously managed Levon Helm Studios. The current management team, led by CEO Brian Parillo, claims that Amy violated Levon Helm Studios’ ownership of the trademark on the Midnight Ramble concert series – which she helped her father launch in the early 2000s. Amy and Levon both performed in the Midnight Ramble shows until his death in 2012.
According to a copy of the complaint reviewed by WAMC, the plaintiffs believe Amy’s use of a slightly different name — The Helm Family Midnight Ramble — for an ongoing concert series was unlawful, and that the income generated by those shows should’ve gone to Levon Helm Studios. They allege Amy used the name to “tour and profit from the Infringing Mark...for her own benefit.”
In a statement emailed to WAMC, Parillo said “Levon...always treated me like family, and I felt the same about Amy. There's no version of this I'm happy about. But Levon Helm Studios has obligations to its ticketholders, artists, and employees, and those obligations weren't being met.”
Amy Helm also sent a statement to WAMC. “I unilaterally deny any and all of these baseless, spurious allegations,” she wrote.
Referring to news reports about the lawsuit that surfaced prior to its official appearance in the database of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Amy added, “My legal team finds it interesting to note that media received this filing a full day before it was received by the court. It is clear what the intention is behind this filing: publicity.”
She called the lawsuit an attempt to “scare and intimidate” her, and to “smear [her] name and make a cash grab. In other words: extortion.”
