Noel Redding Estate Limited & Anor v Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited
[2024] EWHC 128 (Ch)
Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited v Noel Redding Estate Limited & Anor
25 April 2023
[2023] EWHC 941 (Ch)
High Court
A band member's estate sued a UK record company in England for unpaid royalties. The record company tried to move the case to New York because of some old agreements signed there. The English court said no, the case belongs here because the main issue is about UK copyright law. The judge also decided it would be best for this UK case to continue.
Key Facts
- •Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited (Defendant/Appellant) challenged the jurisdiction of the English court in an action brought by Noel Redding Estate Limited and Mitch Mitchell Estate Limited (Claimants/Respondents).
- •The Claimants sought a share in sound recording copyrights and performers' rights related to Jimi Hendrix Experience albums.
- •The Defendant argued the dispute should be heard in New York, citing prior settlements (the Releases) in New York and a subsequent New York action (the 2022 Complaint).
- •The Defendant also sought a stay of the English proceedings pending the outcome of the New York action.
- •The Deputy Master dismissed the Defendant's application, finding England to be the more appropriate forum and rejecting the stay application.
Legal Principles
Forum non conveniens: A stay will only be granted where another forum is clearly or distinctly more appropriate for the interests of all parties and the ends of justice.
Spiliada Maritime Corporation v Cansulex Ltd [1987] AC 460
In forum non conveniens challenges, the court must consider the totality of the dispute, including the defendant's likely response.
Conversant Wireless Technologies Sarl v Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 38
Case management stays: The court has inherent jurisdiction to grant stays 'where it thinks fit' in the interests of justice. This power is wide but will only be exercised in rare and compelling circumstances.
Athena Capital Fund SICAV-FIS S.C.A. v Secretariat of State for the Holy See [2022] EWCA Civ 1051 and Reichhold Norway ASA v Goldman Sachs International [1999] 1 All ER (Comm) 40
Appeals from case management decisions: Interference is limited; only if the judge considered irrelevant factors, ignored relevant ones, or clearly wrongly exercised discretion.
Jalla v Shell International Trading and Shipping Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1559
Appeals from evaluative decisions: The appellate court should be slow to interfere unless there's a significant error of principle or the decision is plainly wrong.
VTB Capital plc v Nutritek International Corporation [2013] UKSC 5
Section 191HB of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: Remuneration under this section is claimable by a collecting society, not directly by the performer.
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, s. 191HB
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed; the Deputy Master's decision upheld.
The Defendant failed to demonstrate that New York was clearly or distinctly the more appropriate forum. The English court had jurisdiction, and the case management concerns did not outweigh the need for the English court to exercise its jurisdiction.
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