Former Procul Harem member Matthew Fisher has won the right to receive future royalties for his copyright share in the iconic 1970s song
A Whiter Shade of Pale, despite waiting 38 years before making his claim. The Law Lords ruled that Procul Harem member Gary Brooker had already received a windfall by taking the entire income from the song for the last 38 years, and therefore it would be unfair to deny Fisher the right to his share.
The song is the most played record by British broadcasting for the past 70 years. Jonathan Radcliffe, intellectual property partner at Nabarro LLP, says: “The case has some fundamental and far-reaching effects not just on copyrights and intellectual property generally, but universally in any situation where the legal doctrines of acquiescence, delay, and proprietary estoppels may be important.
"The Lords has rejected a smoke-and-mirrors approach based on an arcane mixture of judicial discretion, subjective judicial views about who ought to win, and individual moral opinion.”
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