legendary guitarist died following a drug overdose in 1970<\/a>, was “one of the most commercially successful acts of its era”. <\/p>\nHe contended that Mr Redding and Mr Mitchell, who both died in the 2000s, “were excluded early on in their lifetimes” and “died in relative poverty”, even as the recordings continued to be a significant income stream in the digital age. <\/p>\n
![\"Jimi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0b4c8e9e7f2d20bd1e8370e39a584f43Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY1MzcxMzMy-2.1738146.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Jimi Hendrix formed his group with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell in 1966 (PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n
Mr Malynicz further argued that since their passing, their successors, who would typically be entitled to a share of revenue via inheritable property rights, have also been consistently excluded. <\/p>\n
He clarified that the marginalisation was not at the hands of Jimi Hendrix himself, but rather by the administrators of his estate, subsequent legal proceedings, and “yet again by a major multinational which refuses to recognise or remunerate their copyright and performers\u2019 rights”.<\/p>\n
The barrister clarified that a recorded song typically involves multiple types of copyright: those pertaining to the musical and lyrical composition, and those related to the sound recording itself. <\/p>\n
Additionally, there are distinct rights concerning the performance of the musicians involved in creating that recording. Mr Malynicz stated that it is specifically the copyright relating to the sound recording and these performance rights that are at the heart of the current dispute. <\/p>\n
He urged the court to “ensure not only that justice is done to the memory of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, but it can also give effect to James Marshall Hendrix\u2019s wishes. For surely, he would have wanted his fellow musicians to receive everything to which they are entitled.”<\/p>\n
However, Robert Howe KC, acting for SMEUK, countered these claims in his written submissions. He asserted that the original recording copyright belonged to the albums\u2019 producers, not the musicians, thereby precluding the estates of Mr Redding and Mr Mitchell from entitlement. <\/p>\n
![\"Hendrix\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9b932c5003b7002de37d2ea93ee11e1cY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzUyMTYyMjkw-2.1619766.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Hendrix\u2019s music continues to be popular and highly lucrative (PA Archive)<\/p>\n
Mr Howe also stated that the predecessors to the musicians\u2019 estates had previously relinquished their rights to the songs and had “expressly authorised the defendant\u2019s predecessors in title to do all of the acts of which complaint is made”. <\/p>\n
He cited claims brought by Mr Redding and Mr Mitchell in the 1970s in New York, which resulted in payments of $100,000 and $247,500 to each, respectively.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Mr Howe noted that during their lifetimes, the musicians “did not seek” to prevent Mr Hendrix\u2019s estate from utilising the recordings or performances, “despite maintaining close ties to Jimi Hendrix\u2019s heirs and those managing his legacy”. <\/p>\n
SMEUK has been using the recordings in the UK since 2009 and maintains its right to continue doing so. In a vivid analogy, Mr Howe asked the court to dismiss the claim, stating: “In essence, what the claimants have done in this action is the equivalent of suing the sub-tenant of one room in a house for trespass, as a device to try to obtain a declaration as to their alleged ownership of the house.” <\/p>\n
The trial, presided over by Mr Justice Edwin Johnson, is scheduled to conclude on 18 December, with a written judgment anticipated at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-337433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Breaking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/breakingNews1_1.png\")
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