John Oates claims he has been left "deeply hurt" by Daryl Hall's "salacious statements" about him.
John Oates and Daryl Hall are locked in a legal row
The 75-year-old musician has been subjected to legal action by his Hall + Oates bandmate in a bid to stop him from selling his share of their joint business venture Whole Oats Enterprises LLP (WOE) to Primary Wave Music, but he is adamant he is just trying to do what it best for himself and his family.
In a first-person declaration to the court obtained by People magazine, John wrote: "Far from becoming 'adversarial and aggressive instead of professional and courteous,' as Daryl has claimed, over the last 50 years I have always devoted my energy to ensuring that both the public and the music industry perceive the Hall Oates music and brand in the most positive light."
Although he and Daryl have "not seen eye to eye", he insisted he has tried "to present opportunities to improve and protect the business and artistic integrity of the partnership."
He added: "In fact, Daryl has become unwilling to work with me to try to protect the marks and other intellectual property that we spent decades building.
"[Just as Daryl has] consistently and publicly been adamant about being perceived as an individual rather than as part of a duo or group, I now must act with truthfulness and make decisions that are right for myself, my family, and my artistic future."
John maintained he hadn't breached any agreement, acted in bad faith or gone behind his bandmate's back.
In his own declaration, 77-year-old Daryl claimed he had been "ambushed" by John and his plans for the sale.
He said: "This recent bad faith conduct by John Oates and the Oates Trust has created tremendous upheaval, harm, and difficulty in my life, not to mention unnecessary expense and burden, during a time when I am in the middle of a tour throughout the U.S. West Coast, Japan, and Manilla and need to focus and perform at top level.
"I believe that John Oates timed the Unauthorized Transaction to create the most harm to me. Respectfully, he must be stopped from this latest wrongdoing and his malicious conduct reined in once and for all."
In previously-revealed documents, Daryl argued John selling his share of the business would be a violation of an agreement they made in October 2021 over WOE.
He has initiated an arbitration process to prevent his bandmate from transferring all of his right, title and interest in the company to Primary Wave Music - who have owned a significant interest in the duo's song catalogue for over 15 years - without his consent.
Daryl sought a restraining order against John in order to close to Primary Wave transaction in order to "maintain the status quo of WOE before there is a change in control of the partnership in violation of the terms of the Agreement.”
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