Experience Hendrix wins lawsuit against vodka distributors

Experience Hendrix, the company that controls the estate of the late Jimi Hendrix, was awarded $3.2 million after a federal judge deemed that the company promoting "Hendrix Electric" vodka infringed on the legend's name and likeness. The company producing the liquor is headed up by Seattle businessman Craig Dieffenbach whose partner is Jimi's younger half-brother Leon Hendrix, who was written out of the $80 million estate by his late father Al Hendrix.

The Associated Press reported that both parties decided to settle out of court before the case headed to trial. U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly entered a judgment for that amount last week and ordered Dieffenbach, his business partners and his companies "to stop selling and marketing the vodka or any other products branded with the Hendrix name."

In 2005 Dieffenbach began marketing the booze in purple-tinted bottles featuring Hendrix's image and his signature on the bottle's label. Experience Hendrix filed suit in 2007.

Jimi's stepsister, Janie Hendrix, said in a written statement, "This judgment recognizes our family's long-standing commitment to preserve the Jimi Hendrix legacy and artistic vision."

Jimi Hendrix died on September 18th, 1970 at the age of 27, about two months shy of his 28th birthday. The events surrounding his death remain sketchy at best, with the only clear fact being that the coroner report stated that Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit, which mainly consisted of red wine.