NEW YORK - Rock legends, The Beatles, have been allowed to sue EMI Group, the world's third- largest music company, seeking $25 million as well as an undisclosed amount as punitive damages for alleged fraud and breach of contract.
The band also wants to reclaim the rights for all their master recordings. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and relatives of John Lennon and George Harrison filed the lawsuit in December last year. The lawyers claim that EMI and affiliate Capitol have secretly sold off all the copies of Beatles recordings and classified them as destroyed or damaged. They also claim that EMI has sold some of the recordings, which they had claimed to be promotional, thus denying Beatles the royalties of the sold copies. The companies have also reported the number of sold copies lower than the actual number.
Reacting to the decision made by the New York court, The Beatles' lawyer, Paul LiCalsi, said, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to pursue this claim for the return of the Beatles' master recordings". EMI had earlier asked the court to dismiss the suit but the request was declined last week.
This is the second time that The Beatles and their recording company EMI are in the court. In 1979 the band had alleged that were being underpaid by more than $20 million. The verdict was given 10 years later with both the band and Apple getting increased royalty rates.
