More litigation against Associated Newspapers, this time relating to the Mail On Sunday and one of their pesky covermounts. This one centres on the originality, or not, of the 30th anniversary edition of Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene', released by EMI last year and then licensed by the major to the Mail for a covermount give away earlier this year.
The CD given away by the Mail On Sunday was billed as being the "original score re-recorded and mixed by Jean Michel Jarre", but Francis Dreyfus, who owns half the publishing on the album and who claims to own the original recording, claims the Mail CD actually featured a remastered version of the original recording and therefore its release breached his copyright.
He has hired Web Sheriff to represent his interests in the dispute, and they have told Music Week legal action against both EMI and the Mail On Sunday will follow in due course. Web Sheriff MD John Giacobbi says he has a musicologist comparing the Mail CD to the original in preparation for a lawsuit although, he adds, experts have already backed their claims.
It's not entirely clear if Dreyfus is claiming that both the EMI retail release and the covermount are in breach of his copyright on the original, or just the covermount. Either way, EMI are saying they are confident both used a brand new recording of the classic album, while Mail On Sunday MD Stephen Miron has told Music Week that his company licensed the recording in good faith from a major record company, and therefore any claim against the paper is "tenuous and laughable".