SOURCE NEW YORK (AFP) - The Beatles are to take legal action against EMI/Capitol after receiving the go ahead from a New York judge, accusing the British label of fraud and not paying royalties owed to the Fab Four.
"We're delighted," said New York lawyer Paul LiCalsi, representing Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, the estate of George Harrison, and their own label Apple, after the decision was made public.
"The court indicated that we may seek the return of master recordings of the Beatles," LiCalsi told AFP on Friday.
"We'll have an opportunity to prove that EMI-Capitol acted fraudulently in handling the sales and reporting of the Beatles' records," he added.
The plaintiffs have put their estimated losses at at least 25 million dollars and are also trying to win back the rights to Beatles' recordings.
Among the accusations against EMI and its affiliate, Capitol records, the plaintiffs allege that they were told millions of dollars' worth of recordings had been "scrapped" when in fact they were sold.
LiCalsi said the alleged fraud was discovered after the Beatles' company ordered an audit on EMI, with whom it has had a long history of legal disputes stretching back more than 20 years.
The case was filed at New York's State Supreme Court last December.
In a decision dated August 21 but only made public this week, Judge Karla Moskowitz rejected a complaint from EMI that the case should be dropped.
LiCalsi said he expected the case to go to trial before the end of next year.
The New York office of EMI was not immediately available to comment on the decision.
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