The estates of Jimi Hendrix’s bandmates, who claimed that the artists “died in relative poverty”, have lost their copyright case against Sony Music.
Details of the lawsuit were revealed back in December, and saw the estate of Noel Redding, who died in 2003 aged 57, and drummer Mitch Mitchell, who died aged 62 in 2008, argue that the artists had been consistently excluded from a share of the revenue relating to their contributions to albums by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
They had formed the band with the iconic guitarist back in 1966, and worked with him on hit releases like 1967’s debut album ‘Are You Experienced’, sophomore album ‘Axis: Bold As Love’ which arrived later that year, and their third and final record, ‘Electric Ladyland’, which was released in 1968.
The lawsuit argued that the two late musicians were “excluded early on in their lifetimes” and “died in relative poverty” despite the band’s huge success. It also claimed that while their successors should be entitled to a share of the revenue made from those three albums, they had allegedly been excluded by the administrators of Hendrix’s estate.
The claims were quickly refuted by Sony Music Entertainment UK, with lawyer Robert Howe outlining that the original recording copyright belonged to the albums’ producers, not the musicians.
Now, it has been confirmed that the estates of the two late band members have lost the high court case.
The ruling was decided yesterday (Tuesday April 28), and saw Mr Justice Johnson dismiss the claims from the estates and state that the clause of the recording agreement was “clear and unequivocal”.
“The producers and the band members agreed that the producers would have the copyright throughout the world in the recordings … There was no temporal or territorial limitation to this agreement,” he said (via The Guardian).
SMEUK, who denied any infringement and represented the label in the case, shared that they were “thankful” to see the case come to an end, and added that they were “pleased that the high court confirmed that there has been no infringement of any rights and that they are fully entitled to exploit their rights in the Jimi Hendrix Experience catalogue”.
Janie Hendrix, who is the late guitarist’s sister and also the chief executive of Experience Hendrix (which manages Jimi Hendrix’s brand) added that she has “nothing but positive memories of Noel and Mitch”.
“Experience Hendrix’s longstanding relationships with both reflect a consistent commitment to honouring and supporting the musicians who were part of Jimi Hendrix’s history,” she continued.
Hendrix co-founded the band with Redding and Mitchell in 1966, and passed away aged 27 from a drug overdose in 1970.