So, those EMI chappies (well, mainly those Capitol chappies) are looking more likely to be heading to court to fight a lawsuit brought against them by The Beatles (well, McCartney, Starr and the estates of Lennon and Harrison). This relates to the previously reported lawsuit launched by The Beatles' company Apple Corps against the EMI division last December. The major record company had asked the New York State Supreme Court to throw out The Beatles' case, but judges there refused the request.
The Beatles claim that EMI are guilty of a number of illegitimate practices that denied them access to royalty payments to which they claim they were due. They allege that EMI and its US division Capitol wrongly classified copies of certain Beatles recordings as destroyed or damaged 'scrap' and then secretly sold them. Other recordings, the band claim, were labelled as royalty-free promotional material, but then also sold. They also reckon the number of units sold were under-reported. They are looking for £13.2m in damages to compensate for those alleged activities and, perhaps more importantly, are attempting to reclaim rights to the band's master recordings.
It's not the first time The Beatles and EMI have been in dispute over royalty payments. A long dispute ran throughout the eighties after the band said they had been underpaid their royalty share. In the end the major agreed to increase the band's future royalty rates as part of a settlement deal. The new dispute relates to an audit of EMI's books from the nineties, with The Beatles launching their litigation at the end of last year. EMI hoped to get the case thrown out of court on the grounds that there was simply not enough detail about the alleged fraudulent actions, but New York judges disagreed.
Commenting on that decision, The Beatles' lawyer Paul LiCalsi said this week: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to pursue this claim for the return of The Beatles' master recordings."