Daryl Hall and John Oates, collectively Hall & Oates’, business dispute will now be litigated in open court, Deadline reported.

The details of their legal troubles were previously under wraps, partly due to Hall’s restraining order against Oates. On Thursday, a Nashville judge ruled in Hall’s favor to uphold his request to temporarily block Oates from selling his share of Hall & Oates’ joint venture without Hall’s permission.

Neither of the two were present in court, only their lawyers.

Hall’s lawyers claimed that Oates violated their contract by attempting to sell his portion of one of their business ventures without Hall’s approval. The judge has now blocked that. There’s a separate arbitration hearing while their legal dispute goes on. The arbitrator has to rule by Feb. 17, 2024.

Oates is trying to sell his Whole Oats Enterprises LLP’s shares to Primary Wave UP Investment Management LLC. Primary Wave is said to already own for over 15 years a “significant interest” in Hall and Oates’ song catalog.

Hall’s court declaration said that this joint venture includes their personal and likeness rights, record royalty income, trademarks and website and social media assets.

He also called Oates’ attempt at the sale the “ultimate partnership betrayal. Moreover, he claimed that he was blindsided by his longtime partner and their relationship and his trust in him have deteriorated.

Daryl Hall also claimed that Oates deliberately timed the sale to maximize the harm done to Hall as he was about to go on tour.

The musical duo were massively popular in ’70s and ’80s with hits such as Rich Girl and and Kiss on My List.