Pop group Duran Duran have lost a High Court fight to reclaim the US rights to some of their most famous songs.<\/p>\n
Simon Le Bon and other members of the group had argued that US copyright laws gave them the right to call for a reversion of copyright after 35 years.<\/p>\n
But lawyers for Gloucester Place Music Ltd, part of EMI Music Publishing, successfully argued that English laws of contract stopped them from doing so.<\/p>\n
Girls on Film, Rio and A View to a Kill were among the disputed tracks.<\/p>\n
The legal action had been seen as a test case whose outcome would have implications for many other UK songwriters.<\/p>\n
At a hearing in London last month, Gloucester Place’s lawyers asked Mr Justice Arnold to rule that Duran Duran’s members had breached music publishing agreements.<\/p>\n
The group had sought to terminate the grant to the company of US copyrights in their first three albums – Duran Duran, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger – plus A View to a Kill, featured in the 1985 James Bond film of that name.<\/p>\n
Ian Mill QC, appearing for Gloucester Place, had argued that the group were “breaching their contracts under English law” by seeking to exercise their reversion rights.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the judge ruled in Gloucester Place’s favour.<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0BBC.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"