Rights to Simpson's cancelled If I Did It project to be auctioned

A California judge has ordered all rights from O.J. Simpson's recent book and TV deal auctioned off and the proceeds turned over to the family of Ron Goldman.

Last year, the former football star and actor signed a deal to release a book entitled If I Did It, Here's How It Happened. The book purportedly explained how he might have committed the killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Goldman.

In 1995, Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in the slayings. However, a civil courtfound him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the Goldman family and he was sentenced to pay $33.5 million US — most of which remains unpaid.

After outrage by the Brown and Goldman families and the general public, the book deal — and a related TV special — were cancelled.

Ruling in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, Judge Gerald Rosenberg ordered the rights for the book and TV deal to be auctioned off, along with the rights of Florida-based company Lorraine Brooke Associates, which had initially brokered the deal with HarperCollins and News Corps.

"This is a guarantee that if they ever publish this thing, Mr. Simpson won't see a dime from it," Goldman family attorney Jonathan Polak said.

Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, called the ruling a "hollow victory" for the Goldman family.

"There isn't a book. There isn't anything," he said.

Though a date for the auction has not yet been set, it will be held in California by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

"The ability to publish the book, to market it and sell it is now going to be bundled up at the sheriff's sale," Polak said.

In February, Montreal-based publisher Barclay Road Inc. said it was seeking rights to release the book. CEO Herbert Becker said the public was misled about the book, which he said was a fictional tome penned by a ghostwriter.

Also last month, Rosenberg ordered that Simpson's income from past work in movies, television and commercials go directly to the Goldman family. However, he rejected the family's bid to collect Simpson's earnings on future projects.