Sony Music again argues that UK legal battle with Jimi Hendrix Experience members should be paused pending US case

completemusicupdate.com:

Sony Music again this week argued that a copyright dispute with former members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience should be pursued in the courts in New York not London.Lawsuits have been filed on both sides of the Atlantic, but – Sony’s legal rep said – the US case should be prioritised, because the outcome in that will “save time, money and resources” when it comes to the UK litigation.This dispute is between Sony Music and the Jimi Hendrix’s estate on one side, and UK-based companies representing the estates of the other two members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience band – Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell – on the other.The latter claim they control rights in relation to the Experience catalogue which are being infringed by the Hendrix estate and its music distribution partner, which is Sony Music.The Hendrix estate counters that, after Hendrix’s death in 1970, both Redding and Mitchell signed agreements via which they basically gave up any copyright or royalty claims in relation to recordings made by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in return for “significant monetary consideration”.Neither Redding nor Mitchell ever subsequently raised any issues with those agreements while they were still alive.But the Redding and Mitchell companies argue that the 1970s agreements didn’t actually see the two musicians assign any rights and only related to revenues generated by the recordings at that time, which obviously didn’t include any digital income.Anticipating that the Redding and Mitchell companies were prepping legal action in the UK, the Hendrix estate and Sony Music filed legal action in New York seeking court confirmation that the 1970s agreements were still in force.