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Hendrix Bandmates' Heirs Lose Copyright Battle
28 Apr
Summary
- Estates of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell lost a high court copyright case.
- The dispute concerned studio recordings made by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
- Producers, not musicians, own the copyright for the 1960s recordings.
The estates of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, former bandmates of Jimi Hendrix, have been unsuccessful in a high court case against Sony Music Entertainment UK (SMEUK).
The legal action, which spanned over four years, centered on the copyright ownership of around 40 studio recordings made by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the 1960s.
Lawyers for SMEUK successfully argued that the producers of the albums, rather than the musicians, held the original copyright for these recordings. This was based on a clear and unequivocal clause in the recording agreement.
Mr. Justice Johnson dismissed the estates' claims, stating that the agreement granted producers copyright worldwide without temporal or territorial limitations. This ruling allows SMEUK to continue exploiting the Jimi Hendrix Experience catalogue.
