Wolfgang’s Vault Sued

Several artists, including members of Led Zeppelin, the Doors and Grateful Dead, have sued the operator of Wolfgangsvault.com, which webcasts vintage concerts promoted by Bill Graham.

The artists claim the site’s owner, entrepreneur Bill Sagan, is unlawfully reproducing, promoting and selling thousands of vintage concert memorabilia items and illegal copies of the memorabilia.

Bill Sagan bought a warehouse filled with Bill Graham’s memorabilia and audiotapes from Clear Channel Entertainment for more than $5 million in 2002. Last year, Sagan launched Wolfgangsvault.com (named after Graham’s given name of Wolfgang Grajonca) and began streaming hundreds of concert recordings of shows that Bill promoted in the San Francisco area.

At the time, Sagan told Pollstar he and his staff were moving “very briskly” on licensing and publishing of the audiotapes. Currently, the Web site is selling T-shirts that display reproductions of Bill Graham Presents concert posters.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, which represents the artists, said in a statement that Sagan is not authorized to sell concert posters and T-shirts that feature the musicians’ intellectual property, including their voices, names, and trademarks.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco December 18th.

“Bill Graham was a man of great integrity who cared very deeply about the artists he worked with as a manager and promoter,” Carlos Santana said in a statement. “Bill was a close friend to me and the Santana Band for many years, and I know that what Sagan is doing would go against everything he believed in.”

A spokeswoman for Wolfgangsvault told the Wall Street Journal that Sagan had no comment on the lawsuit.