As expected, I suppose, Jimi Hendrix's brother Leon has laid into his sister Janie over her decision to sue his friend and associate Craig Dieffenbach over his Electric Hendrix products, the packaging for which use Hendrix's signature and image.
As previously reported, Janie Hendrix, Jimi's adopted sister and the boss of the official Experience Hendrix company, says Dieffenbach is violating the Hendrix estate's trademarks with his Hendrix branded products, while adding that the manufacture of a Jimi branded vodka is "sick" given that her brother's death was linked to alcohol consumption. Dieffenbach argues that past court rulings have demonstrated that the Experience Hendrix company does not own the legendary's guitarist generic image, and that as he has trademarked the Hendrix imagery used on his products so the law is on his side.
Leon Hendrix, who has long had a rocky relationship with his adopted sister Janie, most recently fighting her for an increased share of his late father's estate, spoke out against the Experience Hendrix company anew in light of the Dieffenbach litigation. He said: "The truly sick joke is Janie Hendrix misleading the public by representing her companies as the Hendrix family. Janie only met Jimi once when she was nine years old and she has no blood relation to Jimi or me. The fact is, there is only one person related to Jimi and me in her company while a large number of our blood relatives live in reduced circumstances and near squalor in the low income sections of Seattle".
Commenting on Janie's criticism of the kinds of products being manufactured in Jimi's name by the Electric Hendrix company, Leon claims his adopted sister is being a hypocrite, claiming her organisation has "merchandised our dead brother to death" by licensing his name to makers of red wine, boxer shorts, diapers and air fresheners. He concluded: "The hypocrisy amazes me".