{"id":9015,"date":"2025-12-11T01:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/jimi-hendrix-trial-over-royalties-for-bandmates-begins-in-uk-court\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T01:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:33:14","slug":"jimi-hendrix-trial-over-royalties-for-bandmates-begins-in-uk-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/jimi-hendrix-trial-over-royalties-for-bandmates-begins-in-uk-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimi Hendrix Trial Over Royalties for Bandmates Begins in UK Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tAre the estates of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s bandmates entitled to royalties from the rock legend\u2019s catalog? The thorny legal question will be decided at a trial that began this week in London\u2019s High Court.<\/p>\n

\n\tCourt proceedings kicked off on Tuesday (Dec. 9) in long-running litigation between Hendrix\u2019s estate and Sony Music on one side and the heirs of Hendrix\u2019s former bandmates in The Jimi Hendrix Experience \u2014 namely bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell \u2014 on the other.<\/p>\n

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\n\tRedding and Mitchell\u2019s estates allege they\u2019ve been unfairly deprived of royalties from three classic Hendrix Experience albums, including the 1968 chart-topper Electric Ladyland<\/em>. According to The Independent<\/a> <\/em>and Agence France-Presse<\/a><\/em>, barrister Simon Malynicz KC<\/strong> argued in a written submission Tuesday that both musicians \u201cdied in relative poverty, having earned almost nothing from the recordings that defined their careers and their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMalynicz reportedly told the court that Hendrix \u201cwould have wanted his fellow musicians to receive everything to which they are entitled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe barrister for Sony Music Entertainment UK, Robert Howe KC<\/strong>, countered in his own written submission on Tuesday that Redding and Mitchell forfeited the right to sue during probate proceedings that followed Hendrix\u2019s 1970 overdose death.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowe also argued that Redding and Mitchell\u2019s heirs are going after the wrong party by suing Sony, which distributes Hendrix\u2019s music under a licensing deal with his estate.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn essence, what the claimants have done in this action is the equivalent of suing the sub-tenant of one room in a house for trespass, as a device to try to obtain a declaration as to their alleged ownership of the house,\u201d wrote Howe, per The Independent.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n\tThe trial\u2019s liability phase is expected to run through Dec. 18, with a written judgment to follow. If Redding and Mitchell\u2019s heirs win their claims, the court will then hold a second trial to determine financial damages.<\/p>\n

\n\tHendrix, Redding and Mitchell collaborated via The Jimi Hendrix Experience from 1966 to 1969. The group\u2019s 1968 album Electric Ladyland <\/em>spent 40 weeks on the Billboard 200, including two weeks at No. 1, and the set\u2019s hit track \u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe legal feud began in 2021, when Redding and Mitchell\u2019s heirs began asserting rights to Hendrix\u2019s music and claiming they were owed millions in royalties. Dueling lawsuits ensued, both in New York and the U.K., and the English court case was ultimately granted precedence.<\/p>\n

\n\tA London judge ruled at the beginning of 2024 that the dispute would have to go to trial, unpersuaded by Sony\u2019s arguments that the claims were entirely barred by Redding and Mitchell\u2019s 1973 probate settlements. Those settlements, which resolved the musicians\u2019 claims against Hendrix\u2019s estate, amounted to one-time payments of $100,000 and $247,500 each.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn appeals court agreed with that assessment this past February, teeing up the current trial in London.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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