A London judge has ruled against the estate of Jimi Hendrix’s bandmates in their long-running legal battle with Sony Music.
The musicians’ heirs were seeking to be awarded royalties from a list of rock legends.
Following a seven-day trial that took place in December 2025, UK High Court Judge Edwin Johnson finally issued a lengthy judgment on Tuesday, dismissing claims brought against Sony by the families of The Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
Redding and Mitchell’s families have been alleging since 2021 that they are being wrongfully deprived of royalties from three classic Hendrix Experience albums, including the 1968 chart-topper. Electric Ladyland.
Sony, which has distributed Hendrix’s music since 2009 under an exclusive license with the rocker’s heirs, says it owes neither family anything.
according to billboard, In Tuesday’s ruling, Justice Johnson ultimately sided with Sony after determining that Redding and Mitchell had signed away future royalties as part of the band’s 1966 recording agreement.
Furthermore, the judge noted that even without these copyright ownership issues, all claims would be barred by agreements signed by both Redding and Mitchell with the Hendrix estate during probate proceedings in the early 1970s.
A spokesperson for Sony Music said in a statement that they were “grateful that this litigation, which lasted more than four years, has come to an end.”
Jimi Hendrix, described by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music”, died of asphyxiation on his own vomit in 1970 at the age of 27.
Redding died in May 2003 at the age of 57 of complications from liver cirrhosis.
Mitchell died of heart failure following the end of the US tribute tour in November 2008.
