The estates of the late members of The Jimi Hendrix Experience are in the middle of a legal dispute regarding royalties.
Per Rolling Stone, attorney Lawrence Abramson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the estates of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell claiming they are owed “royalties for some 3 billion streams of the Experience’s songs” by Experience Hendrix, LLC and Sony Music Entertainment.
In response, Experience Hendrix, LLC has countersued claiming Redding and Mitchel had signed agreements in April 1973 and September 1974, respectively, for an undisclosed amount of money that released the Hendrix estate from any legal claims and agreed never to sue the Hendrix estate.
Rolling Stone adds, “Both the Mitchell and Redding estates claim they are no longer bound to those documents, where the Hendrix estate says they are indeed enforceable. The Hendrix estate wants a judge to issue a declaratory judgment saying that those contracts are still valid.”
Dorothy Weber, the attorney representing Experience Hendrix, LLC and Sony Music Entertainment, added in the countersuit, “Any claim of ownership by the Defendants was time barred decades ago…Neither Redding nor Mitchell ever asserted an ownership interest, or any other performers’ rights, in the Recordings”
