The Name Game: Legal battle waged over rights to use name of ‘Father of Bluegrass’ Bill Monroe
Campbell “Doc” Mercer is throwing an annual festival celebrating the life and music of Bill Monroe but without the name of the “Father of Bluegrass Music” to promote it.
Mercer, the head of the Jerusalem Ridge Foundation, is locked in a legal fight with Ohio County, Ky., and its industrial foundation about whether he was ever given the legal right to use Monroe’s name for commercial purposes.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments in the case Nov. 19 in Hardinsburg.
Mercer’s festival started Thursday near Rosine in western Kentucky and runs through the weekend. He contends the county granted him the rights to use Monroe’s name in 2001. The county says there was never any intent to allow Mercer to use Monroe’s name and likeness.
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