Isley Brothers Settle Long Court Battle Over Legal Rights to Band Name

The legal war over the Isley Brothers name is finally over.

In court filings obtained and first reported by Billboard, attorneys for Ronald Isley and the estate of Rudolph Isley jointly asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit they’ve fought since 2023 over the trademark rights to “The Isley Brothers,” the name their iconic soul group used across decades of chart-topping hits.

Months before Rudolph’s 2023 death, he sued Ronald in federal court, claiming his brother was improperly trying to monopolize the legal rights to a name they were supposed to be splitting equally. Ronald later fired back that his brother had left the band and was not entitled to share the name.

After a judge allowed the case to move ahead, the lawsuit has largely been on ice for nearly three years as the two sides negotiated a potential settlement. Such a deal was tentatively struck in February, but was not formalized in court until Wednesday.

The specific terms of the agreement — including who will own what rights and whether any money changed hands — was not included in court filings. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on the resolution of the case.

The Isley Brothers are hardly the first musicians to battle in court over a band name. Such rights hold massive value for ongoing touring and merchandise. But evolving group rosters and often-shoddy paperwork mean such rights are prone to thorny disputes over who owns what.

Journey, Stone Temple Pilots, Jefferson Starship, the Rascals, the Ebonys, the Commodores and the Platters have all ended up in such litigation over the years. Members of the Beach Boys spent more than 10 years fighting over their name, before a settlement was reached in 2008.

The dispute over the Isley Brothers started in 2023, when Rudolph filed a lawsuit claiming that his brother was trying to cut him out of the name rights and secure a federal trademark registration for himself alone. The case claimed that since the 1986 death of their third brother (O’Kelly Isley), Rudolph and Ronald had been the equal co-owners of the group’s intellectual property.

In his own response filings, Ronald urged a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the “Isley Brothers” trademarks were the property of those who have actually been using the name — and that Rudolph had not performed with the band for many years.

“Plaintiff, by his own admission, has neither performed nor recorded with the Isley Brothers since 1989,” Ronald’s attorneys wrote. “Plaintiff wrongly contends that, notwithstanding his decades-long absence from touring and performance, he still is entitled to ownership of a 50% interest in the mark.”

In August 2023, a federal judge allowed the case to move ahead, ruling that Rudolph’s allegations, if later proven true, would mean that he continued to have rights to the name. The judge said that even if Rudolph had stopped performing or recording, he may have had an ongoing “managerial role” that entitled him to co-ownership.

In doing so, the judge cited Rudolph’s claim that still had an “active” role in the band’s business activities, including securing a multi-million dollar publishing deal in 2018 and helping to negotiate the use of the band’s iconic song “Shout” for a 2023 Super Bowl commercial.

That ruling sent the case into discovery and toward an eventual trial. But Rudolph passed away just two months later, dying of an apparent heart attack at the age of 84. “There are no words to express my feelings and the love I have for my brother,” Ronald said at the time. “Our family will miss him. But I know he’s in a better place.”

After Rudolph’s death, his estate took over the lawsuit by substituting itself as the plaintiff. But the case was then repeatedly paused, as the two sides told the judge they were actively working on a reaching a settlement.