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Heirs of Jimi Hendrix Experience band members sue Sony Music over alleged copyright infringement
Jimi Hendrix’s former bandmates, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, who allege copyright infringement.As reported by Variety, the lawsuit has been filed in London’s High Court, with Redding and Mitchell’s heirs seeking royalties and claiming they own a stake in the band’s music.This new lawsuit follows a filing made by Sony Music and the Hendrix estate in a Manhattan federal court last month, which states that the estates of Redding and Mitchell do not have the right to sue them for copyright claims.This came after Sony Music received a letter in December from British lawyer, Lawrence Abramson, which noted that the label owed Redding and Mitchell’s estates performance royalties for roughly 3billion streams of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s songs.However, a lawyer for Sony Music and Hendrix’s estate alleged that both Mitchell and Redding signed away any rights to the music in the early 1970s. Abramson argued in response that “none of the parties would have been able to foresee or contemplate” the digital media revenue at the time of signing.The new UK-based lawsuit seeks a declaration of copyright ownership in the musical works, sound recordings and performers rights, and damages as well as an account of profits plus interest on that figure and legal costs.Hendrix died in September 1970.
