Veteran
rock band Procol Harum’s lead singer Gary Brooker has won back full royalty
rights to their 1967 number one hit, A Whiter Shade of Pale, at London's
Court of Appeal.Lord Justice Mummery overturned a 2006 ruling that said that organ player Matthew Fisher was entitled to a 40% share of royalties on the song.
Matthew Fisher of Croydon claimed he had written the song's organ melody but the judge decided there had been far too long a delay in him making a claim for what he was saying he had composed, and in fact, nearly 40 years had gone by since A Whiter Shade of Pale was a hit.
The Court of Appeal agreed that Matthew Fisher had written the music in question but ruled that he would not receive past or future royalties because of this delay, and the judge explained: "Matthew Fisher is guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in his claim to assert joint title to a joint interest in the work."
It had also been said that Matthew Fisher hadn’t made a claim earlier on because he was worried he would be thrown out of the band.