(CN) - The estates of Jimi Hendrix's former bandmates - bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell - can proceed to trial with their lawsuit against Sony Music over the rights to three classic psychedelic rock albums by the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience band, a United Kingdom appeals court ruled Thursday.
A three-judge panel on the Court of Appeal rejected Sony's bid to dismiss a lawsuit, finding that the heirs of his former bandmates own the copyrights to the group's recordings.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience existed for just four years, from 1966 to 1970, and recorded three studio albums: "Are You Experienced," released in the United Kingdom in May 1967; "Axis: Bold as Love," released in December 1967; and "Electric Ladyland," released in October 1968.
The estates of Redding and Mitchell, who died in 2003 and 2008, respectively, claim there was an oral agreement around May 1967 among members of the band regarding the ownership and division of money it received: All profits would be divided 50% to Hendrix, 25% to Redding and 25% to Mitchell.
The families of both bandmates have claimed they each died in relative poverty, never having received their true entitlement from their works, performances and founding membership of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The heirs initiated the legal battle over outstanding royalties in 2021. They sent a letter in the U.K. claiming their stake in Hendrix's music copyrights, arguing that they're owed millions in performance royalties compensation from Sony for some three billion online streams of the band's songs.
Sony argued that the case should be tossed out because the bassist and drummer both signed away their rights in the early 1970s, shortly after Hendrix's untimely death at 27 years old.
On Thursday, the British Court of Appeal upheld a ruling issued last year that said the dispute must be decided at trial, rejecting Sony's request to overturn that lower court ruling and dismiss the case.
"In my judgment the judge was correct," Lord Justice Richard Arnold wrote in the 13-page ruling.
Arnold was joined in the unanimous appeals ruling by Justices Guy Newey and Colin Birss.
The ruling by the second most senior court in England and Wales clears the estates to go to trial in their long-running legal fight with the record company over the royalties to Hendrix's music in the streaming era.
Representatives for neither party immediately responded to requests for comment on the appeals ruling on Thursday.
Hendrix, who's widely regarded as the world's most influential electric rock guitarist, died on Sept. 18, 1970, from an overdose of sleeping pills, aspirating on his own vomit.
Born James Marshall Hendrix in Seattle, Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15 and eventually backed up R&B groups including the Isley Brothers, Little Richard and Curtis Knight and the Squires.
He moved to England in 1966 under the co-management of former Animals bassist Chas Chandler, where he teamed up with Redding and Mitchell to create the groundbreaking, interracial, psychedelic blues rock trio Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Hendrix's recording career lasted about four years and three LPs. His final studio album, the double LP "Electric Ladyland," reached No. 1 in the United States in 1968. Among his hit songs were "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," and his cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."
Mitchell left the band in 1969 and was replaced by Billy Cox, who had already been playing with Hendrix in his Band of Gypsys and Gypsy Sun and Rainbows side projects, which had performed the legendary Monday morning closing set at the era-defining Woodstock festival that year.
Source: Courthouse News Service
