A London-based judge has rejected copyright claims from the heirs of two former bandmates of Jimi Hendrix, ruling against their bid to secure royalties from the guitarist’s catalog in a long-running dispute with Sony Music and the Hendrix estate.
In a 140-page ruling obtained by Rolling Stone, British High Court Judge Edwin Johnson found that Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist David Noel Redding and drummer John “Mitch” Mitchell signed a recording agreement on Oct. 11, 1966, that forfeited their rights to future royalties. The agreement was between band members Hendrix, Redding, and Mitchell and two music producers, Michael Jeffery and Bryan “Chas” Chandler.
“I conclude that the first owners of the copyrights… were the producers,” the judge wrote, finding that a critical clause of the agreement stated that the producers owned the rights to “any sound recordings made hereunder.” A subclause then said the rights covered “the copyright throughout the world in all sound recordings of performances of musical works by the artistes,” the judge found.
“It is difficult to see how this could have been expressed more clearly,” Judge Johnson wrote. “The producers were to have the copyright in sound recordings made pursuant to the terms of the recording agreement. This clearly included the recordings, which were all made pursuant to the terms of the recording agreement.”
The judge repeatedly described the agreement as “clear and unequivocal,” adding that “there was no temporal or territorial limitation to this agreement” and no language qualifying the grant of ownership. He further found that a “series of transactions” after Hendrix’s 1970 death made the Hendrix estate “the ultimate successor” to the producers’ rights under the recording agreement.
Jimi’s younger sister, Janie Hendrix, the CEO of Experience Hendrix, cheered the ruling in a statement sent to Rolling Stone. “Jimi’s music is more than a catalog — it’s a living piece of our family’s soul, filled with his spirit, his passion, and his truth,” she says. “This decision means we can continue protecting that legacy with the love, care, and integrity it deserves, and ensure his voice is honored for generations to come.”
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Attempts to reach representatives for the estates of Redding and Mitchell were not immediately successful on Tuesday.
As Rolling Stone previously reported, the legal dispute traces back to a 2021 letter that British attorney Lawrence Abramson sent to Sony, claiming that Mitchell’s and Redding’s estates were owed performance royalties for billions of streams. He wrote that the sales linked to the streams were “estimated to be in the millions of pounds.”
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Experience Hendrix and Sony responded by filing a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, asking for “a declaratory judgment of ownership and non-infringement.” The heirs of Redding and Mitchell filed a competing lawsuit in London, and the New York litigation was put on hold, with the British courts given priority to handle the legal battle.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed in 1966 and split in June 1969 when Redding quit. Mitchell continued playing with Hendrix off and on until Hendrix died in September 1970 at age 27. Redding died in May 2003, leaving his estate to his partner, Deborah McNaughton, whose sisters inherited the estate upon her death. Mitchell’s daughter, Aysha, inherited his estate when he died in Nov. 2008.
