(CNN) -- Pop star David Cassidy filed suit on Wednesday against Sony, claiming he was not paid for his image on merchandise from the hit television show, "The Partridge Family," in which he starred.





"For nearly 40 years, defendants have swindled Mr. Cassidy out of his rightful share of the profits from The Partridge Family, and when Mr. Cassidy has inquired as to the matter, have lied to him so as to continue to conceal their deception," said the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.





"Mr. Cassidy has reason to believe, and does reasonably believe, that defendants have been perpetrating a scam" and "will continue to go to any and all lengths necessary, no matter how despicable, to avoid upholding" his contract, the suit said.





Named as defendants are Sony Pictures Entertainment, and subsidiaries Screen Gems Inc. and CPT Holdings Inc.





The suit, which alleges fraud and breach of contract, demands "in excess of millions of dollars, in amount to be determined at trial."





A Sony spokeswoman said the company does not comment on matters involving litigation.





In an interview with CNN, Cassidy, 61, said he simply wants what's owed to him.





"It's just a matter of being fair, and doing the right thing," Cassidy said. "I have no other alternative if Sony is not going to be reasonable."





He told CNN that his former manager told him he has only been paid about $5,000 for merchandise.





"I'm going to let a jury decide if David Cassidy is entitled to his fair share," he told CNN.





Under his 1971 contract with Screen Gems, Cassidy was supposed to get 15 percent of net merchandising revenues for the use of his image, voice or likeness, and no more than half of that for items in which that if other cast members appeared.





"Mr. Cassidy quickly became a teen idol," the suit, filed by attorneys Kenneth Linzer, Rachael Shinoskie and Elisha Weiner, states. "At the height of the show's success, he received an average of 30,000 letters from fans a week; having the largest fan club in the world in its day, surpassing even Elvis Presley and The Beatles."





The suit said the show, which aired from 1970 to 1974, was one of the first -- if not the first -- to be merchandized on a worldwide scale with board games, magazines, coloring books, paperbacks, posters, pillow cases, toy guitars, dollars, lunch boxes, beach towels, pencil cases, comic books, children's' clothing, and music sales.





"All of which, it has been reported by knowledgeable news sources, generated nearly $500 million for defendants," the suit said.





Despite promises in his 1971 contract to provide financial statements for merchandising, Sony has "either never provided such accountings and reports, or provided such accountings and reports only begrudgingly, inconsistently, inaccurately and fraudulently."





In a letter sent to Sony in May, Cassidy's attorney Craig Marshall, requested a full accounting of the merchandise.





"We are formally requesting an accounting and payment for any and all sale, exploitation, or other use of Cassidy's name, likeness, voice or other exercise of such merchandising rights," states the letter to Gregory Boone, executive vice president of legal affairs for Sony Pictures Television. "In that regard, we also request a prompt and full accounting and payment of proceeds for any merchandise that was sold, exploited or otherwise used subsequent to the rights period set forth in the agreement."





Boone responded in a letter that Sony "could not (and so far as we know did not) enter into any new merchandising licenses" using Cassidy's "name, voice and likeness rights" after the show went off the air.





"We have searched for copies of the merchandising net proceeds rendered to Mr. Cassidy in the 1970s, but have been unable to locate them," the letter said. "However, we did find some correspondence...showing that Mr. Cassidy
A spokeswoman from which company had no comment? David Cassidy was a pop icon when? What age is David Cassidy? Who did Cassidy file against? What is the "Partridge Family"? What did the lawsuit allege?
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