UK Court Dismisses Hendrix Bandmates' Estates Royalty Suit

London's High Court dismissed a lawsuit on Tuesday brought by the estates of Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell against Sony Music Entertainment UK, ruling that the musicians had no ownership rights to royalties from the band's three seminal 1960s albums.

Justice Edwin Johnson delivered the judgment after a seven-day trial in December, determining that a 1966 recording agreement granted exclusive worldwide copyright in the sound recordings to the band's producers, Michael Jeffery and Chas Chandler. The agreement's language, the judge noted, was "clear and unequivocal," stating that the producers "shall have the copyright throughout the world in all sound recordings of performances of musical works by the Artistes." Johnson emphasized that it was "difficult to see how this could have been expressed more clearly," with no temporal, territorial or methodological limits, including on streaming or other modern formats.

The claims also failed due to settlement releases signed by Redding and Mitchell in the early 1970s during probate proceedings after Hendrix's 1970 death. Redding received 100,000 pounds and Mitchell 247,500 pounds in exchange for...