Organist's Delay Costs Him Share of 'Whiter Shade of Pale' Royalties

Posted by Matthew Heller

Forty-one years after the release of "Whiter Shade of Pale," a British appeals court has ruled that Procol Harum singer Gary Brooker does not have to share future proceeds from the song with organist Matthew Fisher (left), who wrote its haunting melody.

Fisher made a claim in 2005 to co-authorship of the song, which had been credited to Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid. In a ruling issued last week, a 2-1 majority of the British Court of Appeal affirmed that he deserves credit for his melodic contribution but reversed a trial judge who had awarded him a 40 percent share of future royalties.

Fisher's "excessive and inexcusable delay" in asserting his claim "has made it unconscionable and inequitable for him to seek to exercise control over the commercial exploitation of the copyright in the Work," Lord Justice John Mummery wrote.

teAnother member of the panel, Mr. Justice David Richards, dissented, saying that because Brooker had not shown any detriment from the delay, "it is not on existing principles unconscionable for the claimant to assert his right for the future." As for Fisher, he described Mummery's decision on his website as "a most peculiar judgment that will please nobody." But he also said that

this case was never about money -- it was about getting my name on the song to which I contributed the most commercial and essential feature. In this I have succeeded.