June 12, 2002 13:10

LOVE LEGAL BATTLE DELAYED

The star has to wait a little longer to take on Geffen/Universal in court...

Photo Gallery: Hole

COURTNEY LOVE's trial against GEFFEN RECORDS and its parent company UNIVERSAL has been adjourned.

The former Hole frontwoman was due to come against the label in a Los Angeles court yesterday (June 11) in the two sides' ongoing contractual wrangle.

Industry analysts are monitoring the lawsuit as a pop artist-led movement challenging the terms of recording contracts gains momentum.

Lawyers for both sides met on Monday with a court-appointed mediator, Reuters reports, before the trial delay was imposed due to a crowded legal schedule.

Last year, Geffen/Universal Music sued Love, seeking millions of dollars in damages for five undelivered albums. The hearing had been due to rule on Love's countersuit, tabled late last year, against Universal, claiming breach of contract and charges of fraud, amongst other things. Several of Love's key complaints have already been dismissed.

At the end of May, Judge Wasserman refused to allow Love's argument that a provision in Californian State labour law allowing record companies to sue recording artists for damages was invalid and unconstitutional. The law says all entertainers and workers in California, except recording artists, have the right to terminate a personal service contract after seven years. The clause, which applies to recording artists, was secured in 1987 by record companies making artists liable for albums still owed to labels after seven years with them.

Lawyers on both sides have been told to continue mediation, but also be prepared for trial on June 18.