By Erik Larson and Jeff St.Onge

(Bloomberg) -- The Grateful Dead, the Doors, Led Zeppelin and Carlos Santana asked a judge to force a music archive to turn over thousands of documents and recordings they say are key to protecting their rights to memorabilia and music.

The archive, sued by the rock bands last year for copyright and trademark infringement, failed to turn over about half of the documents it was ordered to produce, according to papers filed yesterday in federal court in San Jose, California.

The Bill Graham Archive, based in San Francisco, and its chief executive officer, William Sagan, ``failed to produce volumes of documents critical to this case and steadfastly refuse to commit to any deadline for doing so,'' the rock groups said. ``Five months of foot-dragging and stonewalling is seriously prejudicing plaintiffs' ability to litigate.''

The bands, including Led Zeppelin, which announced today it will reunite for one concert, claim the archive's online recordings and retail sales violate their intellectual property and publicity rights. The archive said its activities are legal because it owns the rights to the music.

Judge Patricia Trumbull is scheduled to consider the musicians' request at a Sept. 18 hearing. The disputed documents cover who made the recordings and how the rights were acquired.

Michael Elkin, the archive's attorney, said the musicians failed to produce their own documents in the case.

`Smokescreen'

``We're not in violation of any court order to produce documents,'' Elkin, of Winston & Strawn, said today in a phone interview. ``This motion is nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the fact that the music groups haven't produced their own documents.''

Trumbull yesterday ordered Santana to turn over additional documents. Santana's papers, contained in as many as 100 boxes and spanning 30 years of records, may help prove Sagan's archive is legally using the guitar player's music, Elkin said.

In 2003, Sagan bought memorabilia and concert tapes created and collected by deceased concert promoter Bill Graham for about $6 million. Sagan's Web site, Wolfgangsvault.com, sells the items and offers free concerts as streaming audio broadcasts.

The musicians filed the lawsuit last December. The archive countersued in February, claiming Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment were conspiring to destroy its business through the musicians' lawsuits.

Jeffrey H. Reeves, the musicians' attorney, declined to comment. Warner Music spokesman Will Tanous didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Hall of Famers

The case was filed by licensing firm Grateful Dead Productions on behalf of musicians Robert Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Cadestansa LLC sued on behalf of Santana. Led Zeppelin rockers James ``Jimmy'' Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant filed as individuals, as did the Doors' former members, Raymond Manzarek, Robby Kreiger and John Densmore.

The rock bands, all members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, claim they gave Graham a license to disperse promotional material, not permission to sell music and memorabilia. They are asking for cash compensation, an order blocking Sagan from selling any of the Graham archive's material and seizure of the entire inventory, stored at a San Francisco warehouse.

Bill Graham, born in Germany in 1931 and named Wolfgang Grajonca, promoted acts including the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane at such venues as the Fillmore West and Winterland in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York.

After Graham died in a helicopter crash in October 1991, his archive was sold to SFX Entertainment Inc., then to Clear Channel Communications Inc. and then to Sagan. The archive also contains recordings made for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, a weekly rock concert radio program started in 1973.

The case is Grateful Dead Productions v. Sagan et al, case number 06-7727, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net ; Jeff St. Onge in Washington at jstonge@bloomberg.net .