Almost since immediately after his tragic, untimely death in 1970 at the age of 27, the estate of iconic guitarist Jimi Hendrix has been in dispute.

The wrangling over his legacy has seemingly been sorted out several times, but the courtroom clashes continue, most recently with a British High Court ruling this week that a film production company does not have the right to Hendrix's music or likeness and can't make a biopic about him without permission from the Experience Hendrix company, run by the late performer's daughter Janie.

Dragonslayer Films, the firm hoping to make the biopic, has issued several statements in recent weeks saying that it is seeking acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino to helm the pic, although there is no agreement in place.

Dragonslayer executive director Elle Von Lear told MP3.com that she's also hoping to lure either Lenny Kravitz or Outkast rapper Andre 3000 to play Hendrix in the film.

The high court ruling means that Dragonslayer will need to gain permission or appeal the decision.

Von Lear said she'll do the latter.

"This isn't right," she said. "I do have the rights. It goes back to a contract that Jimi signed."

The centerpiece of the current dispute is Hendrix's contract with his former manager, the late Michael Jeffery. British attorney John Hillman, who had been involved in a Bahamian tax shelter, called Yameta Company, for Jeffery before his death, claims to be the sole successor to Yameta and thus entitled to a portion of Hendrix's estate via Jeffery's contract with the late guitarist.

To make it even more complicated, Dragonslayer's case is intertwined with that of Lawrence Miller of Purple Haze Records, which has sought to release Hendrix recordings that Experience Hendrix has not authorized. Janie Hendrix and the company won a court decision last August against Miller.

"What they're doing is trying to knock Larry Miller and Purple Haze out of the box to knock John Hillman out of the box and thus me out of the box," Von Lear said. "But we're going to keep fighting."

Experience Hendrix and Janie Hendrix issued a statement after the ruling: "We will certainly rely on this judgment in protecting our rights against any other parties who make unauthorized use of Hendrix songs and recordings under the guise of the Hillman claim."

But Von Lear said she has the legacy of Hendrix at heart and won't stop until she wins the right to make the biopic and sign some endorsements for the Hendrix name.

"The legacy of Jimi should be doing better than it is, and it's not mostly because Janie's sitting on a house of cards," she said. "I may have squat right now, but I have the same squat that she has."