THE Beatles have been given the blessing of an American judge to sue the record company EMI for more than £13 million in allegedly lost earnings. The group claims that the company used fraudulent schemes to “pocket millions of dollars” owed to the band in royalties.

The action, originally filed in December, claims that EMI and its affiliate, Capitol, wrongly classified copies of Beatles recordings as destroyed or damaged and then secretly sold them.

The plaintiffs — Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, the estate of George Harrison and the Beatles’ company Apple Corps — allege that the number of units sold was under-reported and that the companies classified some recordings as promotional and therefore non-royalty bearing, before selling them. They want at least £13.2 million in damages for fraud and breach of contract, and are also seeking to reclaim rights to all master recordings.

Justice Karla Moskowitz, of the New York State Supreme Court, rejected EMI’s request for the claim to be thrown out. EMI is likely to appeal.

The dispute between the Beatles and EMI and Capitol dates from 1979 when the group alleged that they had been underpaid by more than £10 million. The case was settled in 1989 with the band getting increased royalty rates.

The plaintiffs claim the present action was triggered by an audit of the companies’ books from the period 1994-99. EMI and Capitol said in court papers that the fraud claim was an attempt to “dress up a contract claim”.

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• The best legal yarns this Christmas
• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers