BBC wins music battle in US court

Music by The Beatles was among the archive material

A US court has ruled in favour of the BBC in a battle with rock star Mick Fleetwood over rights to recordings of archived material from BBC sessions.

Fleetwood's company, Bee Load Ltd, had sought damages over claims that BBC Worldwide broke off an agreement to let it release CDs of classic tracks.

But a US federal judge in Portland, Maine ruled in the BBC's favour.

Judge James Haines said BBC Worldwide did nothing illegal when it broke off the relationship with Bee Load.

Bee Load Ltd had argued that it had a deal to release CDs of performances from BBC radio archives, including music by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and Elton John.

Bankruptcy court

But the judge said Fleetwood's accountant, Joe McNulty, was "obsessed" with taking exclusive rights from the BBC that were not part of the business agreement.

He said BBC Worldwide's executives had tried to make the deal work.

The case began in 2003 and eventually ended up in a bankruptcy court in Portland, Bee Load's main place of business, when the company filed for protection under US bankruptcy law.

BBC Worldwide handles commercial deals to distribute BBC resources such as TV shows, books and music.