Noel Redding Estate Ltd & anr (respondents) v Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd (appellant)

Thursday 30 January 2025

By an Appellant’s Notice filed on 13 March 2024 this is an appeal against the Order, dated 22 February 2024 of Michael Green J , sitting in the Business and Property Courts, Intellectual Property List in which he substantially dismissed the Applicant’s application for reverse summary judgment/strike out of the Respondent’s claims

The Claimants in the underlying dispute (Respondents’ in the Appeal) are the estates of two members of “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”. The underlying dispute concerns a claim by the Respondents for alleged infringement of their performers’ property rights and infringement of copyrights in sound recordings.

The Appellant, applied for reverse summary judgment and/or strike out of the claims on the basis that the performers’ property rights are unarguably precluded by the transitional provisions in s180 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Regulation 27 of the 2996 Regulations and Regulation 32 of the 2003 Regulations and the copyright claims are statute barred on the basis that the claim relates to partnership assets of a partnership that was dissolved, at latest by September 1970

The Judge rejected these arguments, refusing reverse summary judgment/strike out of the claims.

View hearing:

Part 1

Part 2