London, May 3 -- The High Court of Justice, Chancery Division today issued a decision in the lawsuit brought by Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. against John Hillman, Purple Haze Records and its proprietor Lawrence Miller ruling in favor of Experience Hendrix. The Court upheld Experience Hendrix's UK performers' rights, rejected John Hillman's claim to own rights to Jimi Hendrix music, and enjoined further distribution of Jimi Hendrix recordings by Purple Haze Records.

Experience Hendrix, the Hendrix family owned and administered company formed in 1995 by James Allen ("Al") Hendrix, the father and sole heir of Jimi Hendrix, sought to enjoin further distribution of various unauthorized Jimi Hendrix recordings recently released by Purple Haze Records. The Court granted the requested injunction against Purple Haze and its proprietor Lawrence Miller, and upheld the company's exercise of performers' rights under UK law. The Court considered, in detail, the 1960's management contract between Jimi Hendrix and Yameta Company, Ltd. This contract is the context under which Hillman has asserted his claim to ownership of Hendrix music rights. Mr. Hillman now claims to have been the real owner of Yameta and the Hendrix music legacy, although this claim had not been asserted prior to the past few years.

Hillman is the purported source of the rights to Hendrix music, etc. in connection with a proposed feature film biography of Jimi Hendrix recently widely publicized by a company called Dragonslayer Films. Experience Hendrix has already put this company on notice that the Hillman claim is not viable, and will enforce all legal rights and remedies against distribution and exhibition of any film which makes unauthorized use of Jimi Hendrix music. Experience Hendrix President and C.E.O. Janie Hendrix commented, "We are pleased that the Court has clearly rejected the Hendrix-related claims of John Hillman, and we will certainly rely on this judgment in protecting our rights against any other parties who make unauthorized use of Hendrix songs and recordings under the guise of the Hillman claim."

The Court found that the Yameta contract was simply a management contract which gave that company a share in Jimi Hendrix's earnings during its term and summarily rejected Hillman's argument that it was an "employment contract" under which everything Hendrix wrote and recorded belonged to Yameta. The Court pointed out that under the wording of the contract "it is not Jimi Hendrix who is serving Yameta, but Yameta which is serving Jimi Hendrix" as his manager, not employer. The Court concluded:

"It would in any event be wholly inconsistent with the Yameta agreement for Yameta, after the agreement came to an end, to remain the owner of rights to future proceeds of Jimi Hendrix's performances given by him while the agreement was still in force."

With his claim undercut by the language of the key agreement, Mr. Hillman relied chiefly on a statement furnished in support of his case by Kathy Etchingham, a former girlfriend of Jimi Hendrix. But the Court found Ms. Etchingham's testimony unconvincing:

"It is wildly improbable that Miss Etchingham can reliably remember anything of that sort forty years after the time when she was a young woman living with Jimi Hendrix, sharing the sort of life he led, and most unlikely to have any interest in or understanding of the contractual arrangements for his activities."

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