The death of Gary Brooker, founder of Procol Harum (a progressive rock group, m’lud) reminds Obiter of a favourite ruling by the old law lords. Fisher v Brooker & Ors decided a dispute over the composition of the melody in the band’s 1967 number one single A Whiter Shade of Pale, a soundtrack to the famed summer of love.
The claimant was not the estate of J.S. Bach, whose Air on the G String Brooker tweaked to fit Keith Reid’s hallucinogenic lyrics, but the band’s then organist Matthew Fisher. He claimed that his counterpoint in the opening bars - the twiddly organ bit - was his composition and thus entitled him to a share in the royalties. The snag: he waited 38 years before bringing proceedings, in 2005. A little laid-back, even by the standards of the 1960s, you might say.
The Court of Appeal agreed, with the judges ruling Fisher guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in asserting his claim.
Characteristically, the law lords took the longer view, with Lord Neuberger confirming in 2009 that there was no statutory time limit for bringing a copyright infringement action. The judgment shows at least one of the distinguished lords as keen to show that they were down with, if not the kids, at least the (then) middle-aged hippies. ’As one of those people who do remember the sixties, I am glad that the author of that memorable organ part has at last achieved the recognition he deserves,’ a spritely Lady Hale declared.
Whether her face, at first just ghostly, turned a whiter shade of pale, is not recorded in the judgment.
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