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Procol Harum case finally decided by Court of Appeal |
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The Court of Appeal in London has partially allowed the appeal by Procul Harum frontman Gary Brooker against former keyboard player Matthew Fisher.
The Court of Appeal in London has partially allowed the appeal by Procul Harum frontman Gary Brooker against former keyboard player Matthew Fisher.
The appeal was against the 2006 decision of Mr Justice Blackburne which awarded Fisher 40% of the music writing royalties of the classic pop song ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, the UK’s most popular radio track ever. Whilst the Court of Appeal agreed that Fisher was a co-author of the work, they held that Fisher’s
delay in bringing the case in 2006, 38 years after the track was
released, was fatal to his claim for royalties. The Court agreed that Fisher’s
‘Bach inspired’ Hammond organ solo at the beginning of the track was
intrinsic to the song’s melody but that ‘excessive and inexcusable
delays’ in asserting his claim’ meant that Fisher would not receive any past or future royalties.
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