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Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell joined The Jimi Hendrix
Experience in 1966 and played on the group's three studio albums
"Are You Experienced", "Axis: Bold As Love" and "Electric
Ladyland", released in 1967 and 1968.
The recordings feature "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", "Foxy Lady,
"The Wind Cries Mary" and other hits that helped usher in the
psychedelic music age and made Hendrix a rock icon before his
death in 1970 aged 27.
Redding and Mitchell died in 2003 and 2008 respectively and
their descendents later assigned any rights they might have had
in the albums to two companies.
The companies – Noel Redding Estate Ltd and Mitch Mitchell
Estate Ltd – sued Sony in 2022 and are seeking a declaration
that they own a share of the sound recording copyrights of the
three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums.
Sony sought to have the case thrown out, in part because Redding
and Mitchell both signed releases in the early 1970s agreeing
not to sue the estate of the Seattle-born legend or any record
companies distributing the three albums.
Redding received $100,000 in 1973 and Mitchell received $247,500
the following year to withdraw lawsuits in New York, which
Sony's lawyers said offered a complete defence to the new case
in London.
But Judge Michael Green ruled on Monday that the lawsuit should
be heard at a full trial, likely in 2025.
Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lawrence Abramson, a lawyer at Keystone Law who represented the
two companies, welcomed the ruling.
"No one is denying that Jimi Hendrix was one of, if not, the
greatest guitarist of all time," he said in a statement.
"But he didn't make his recordings alone and they could not have
achieved any success without the contributions of Noel and
Mitch."
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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