Good to see the Gazette can use an analogy that doesn’t involve the words purple or haze..

Sony Music has lost its appeal in the long-running claim on the copyright and performance rights of 1960s guitar legend Jimi Hendrix’s bandmates, bass guitarist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

In Noel Redding Estate Limited and Anor v Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited, the Court of Appeal dismissed attempts by the record company to strike out Redding and Mitchell’s claims for declarations as to the ownership of, and relief for infringement of, copyright and performers’ rights in recordings by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

A previous application contesting jurisdiction had been dismissed by the High Court.

In this latest judgment, Lord Justice Arnold, with whom Lord Justice Birss and Lord Justice Newey agreed, noted: ‘The claimants commenced these proceedings as long ago as 4 February 2022. Procedural issues, including an unsuccessful jurisdictional challenge by Sony, mean that they have not yet progressed beyond disclosure.’

Sony’s latest appeal was on two grounds, that the judge was wrong to reject Sony’s contention that the claim for infringement of performers’ rights is precluded by transitional provisions contained in section 180(3) the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and regulation 27(2) of the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, and that the judge was wrong to reject Sony’s contention that the copyright claim against it is statute-barred as being a claim in respect of partnership assets.