The famed Greenwich Village nightclub that put Jimi Hendrix on the road to rock ‘n’ roll stardom is being sued for allegedly ripping off the writer of his debut single.
Cafe Wha? is named in a pair of copyright-infringement suits charging unlicensed performances of Billy Roberts’ “Hey Joe” and more than a dozen other hits.
Neither case specifies damages, but federal law provides for penalties of up to $30,000 on each of the 16 claims against the former Beat Generation hangout, which also helped launch the careers of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Bill Cosby.
The suits were filed by two licensing agencies, Broadcast Music Inc. and ASCAP, on behalf of publishers of songs performed at the club that were written by James Brown, Prince, Lenny Kravitz and Tom Petty.
Cafe Wha? referred a call for comment to its operations director, who didn’t respond to messages.