Rodman Resolves Dispute Over Music

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Former NBA star Dennis Rodman said he has resolved a dispute with an industry group that accused him of using copyrighted music without permission at his California restaurant. Rodman has agreed to pay licensing fees back to 2002 and has signed a new agreement with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, his publicist, Shannon Barr, told the Los Angeles Times for Saturday's editions. Rodman said he was unhappy about the ASCAP's rule that commercial establishments must pay fees for the use of any of its eight million copyrighted songs and compositions performed live, played on jukeboxes or piped in from radio stations. "But hey, what can you do?" said Rodman, who has attracted publicity because of his brief marriage to Carmen Electra, wild partying and brushes with the law. "We are under new management now, and I have taken every precaution that things like this do not happen again," he said in an e-mail to the Times. Rodman's, formerly known as Josh Slocum's, was the only California eatery named in a lawsuit filed by the ASCAP. The suit named restaurants in 15 states. A call to ASCAP Saturday was not immediately returned. ASCAP represents about 200,000 songwriters and composers who are paid royalties. The agency and Broadcast Music Inc. hold the licensing rights to the majority of popular songs