Simkins advises Sony Music on successful defence of Jimi Hendrix Experience recordings claim
Simkins has advised Sony Music Entertainment UK in successfully defending High Court proceedings in Noel Redding Estate Ltd v Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd [2026] EWHC 983 (Ch), concerning the ownership and exploitation of recordings by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The claim was brought by two companies claiming to have acquired rights from the estates of Noel Redding (bassist) and Mitch Mitchell (drummer), and concerned copyright ownership and performers’ property rights in the band's three iconic studio albums made between 1966 and 1968.
In a judgment handed down on 28 April 2026, Mr Justice Edwin Johnson dismissed the claims in their entirety. The Court found that copyright in the recordings was originally owned by the band’s producers under the terms of a 1966 recording agreement. Those rights had passed down a valid chain of title to Sony’s licensor, Experience Hendrix L.L.C., the Jimi Hendrix family company managed by Janie Hendrix, Jimi’s sister.
The claims failed on three independent grounds: first, on the proper construction of that agreement; second, because the claims were barred by releases entered into by the musicians during their lifetimes (under which they were paid substantial sums); and third, because of discontinuances of earlier US proceedings concerning the same subject matter.
The Court further held that the performers’ consent given under the recording agreement was not time-limited and was not restricted to particular methods of exploitation, and so included digital downloads and streaming.
Sony Music was represented by Simkins Partners Paddy Gardiner and Tom Iverson, and Associate Dionne Clark, who instructed Robert Howe KC (Blackstone Chambers) and Jaani Riordan (8 New Square).
The judgment is available here.
