Abraham Quintanilla, Jr., the father of late Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez, has filed a lawsuit against her widower in an effort to stop production on an upcoming Selena-based TV series.
According to E! News, Abraham Quintanilla filed the lawsuit in Texas court last week against Chris Perez. Forbes reported that the series was to be based on Perez's 2012 book To Selena With Love. Endemol-Shine purchased the rights to the book and had announced plans to produce the series just two weeks ago.
Simran A. Singh, Quintanilla's lawyer, told Forbes that Perez's intent to produce the series violated the terms of an agreement he signed two months after Selena's death which gave her estate and her father the sole rights to all "Entertainment Properties." This includes income, publicity, trademark, copyright and signature rights. Perez agreed to receive 25 percent of all net profits garnered from the use of these entertainment properties.
"He doesn’t have the rights to publish a book or produce a television series based in any part on Selena. Among other things, we are seeking a judicial declaration that the defendants have no right to exploit the series and stop production," Singh said.
Attorneys from Selena's estate sent Endemol a cease and desist letter. Endemol ignored the letter and reiterated their plans to move forward with production of the series. According to Singh, based on the terms of the estate agreement, any plans and agreements made toward the production of a series would be void, but it will be up to a judge to make that decision. As of now, none of the defendants have been officially served but they will have 30 days to respond to the complaint once they are served.