On the last ever day that the House of Lords existed, it gave judgment on its first ever music copyright case. Organist Matthew Fisher claimed that in 1967 he composed the famous organ solo of the “Whiter Shade of Pale”. Procol Harum recorded and released the track in May 1967 and entered into a recording agreement with Essex Music.

In 2005 (38 years later), Fisher made a claim to enforce his copyright in his contribution to the song. The House of Lords decided that Fisher had not impliedly assigned his interest in the song to Essex Music; that the recording agreement did not assign Fisher’s copyright to Essex Music (but may amount to a royalty free licence for the use of the copyright in the song in the first recording of it); and that Fisher had not lost his interest in the copyright due to the delay in bringing his claim.

The press has presented the decision as a win for Fisher, but the Law Lords’ suggested royalty free licence means that Fisher will not receive any royalties for Procal Harum’s original version of the hit. He will only receive a royalty from other recordings and live performances.

Whenever dealing with a creative team, the contributions of each person in the team remains important – even 42 years after the event.

The House of Lords is replaced by the Supreme Court.