Sir Richard Arnold, Westminster alumnus, Visiting Professor and Court of Appeal Judge, delivered his ninth annual lecture at Westminster Law School on the theme of Jimi Hendrix and UK performers’ rights.
On 18 February, Sir Richard delivered his ninth annual lecture titled Are You Experienced?: The Jimi Hendrix Experience and UK Performers’ Rights. The event was organised by the University’s Centre for Law, Society and Popular Culture, where Sir Richard is an Associate Fellow, which draws together work from the Westminster Law School and wider disciplines across the university, covering areas such as music, sport, film and the media.
The event took place at Westminster’s Little Titchfield Street site and was opened by Professor Luke Mason, Head of the Westminster Law School, who introduced the lecture with a reference to Hendrix’s first performance in London on 1 October 1966, which took place in the very same building when he joined the band Cream for a concert at the University’s predecessor, the Polytechnic of Central London.
Sir Richard then took the floor to address performance rights, focusing on the range of cases associated with Jimi Hendrix, and in particular the ongoing copyright claim filed by the heirs of two band members of The Jimi Hendrix Experience who claim they are owed money from Sony. Sony’s appeal against the High Court’s refusal to strike out this claim was recently dismissed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, on which Sir Richard is one of five judges.
Following the lecture, there was a Q&A session for Sir Richard to take questions from the audience, which consisted of Westminster colleagues, students and external attendees.
Sir Richard received his Graduate Diploma in Law in 1984 from the Polytechnic of Central London and shortly after, in 1985, was called to the Bar of England and Wales. In 2000, he became a Queen’s Counsel (QC) and was appointed to the High Court Bench in October 2008, where he specialised in IP, entertainment and media law as well as data protection - both domestically and in European Courts and Tribunals.
He was then made Chairman of the Code of Practice for the Promotion of Animal Medicines Committee from 2002 – 2008, an Appointed Person hearing trademark appeals from 2003 – 2008 and a Deputy High Court Judge from 2004 – 2008. In 2013, he was appointed to be Judge in Charge of the Patents Court and became an External Member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office in 2016.
Westminster awarded Sir Richard with an Honorary Doctorate in 2017 for his services to Law and his contributions to the Westminster Law School. In 2019, he was appointed as one of five judges at the UK Court of Appeal.
About the lecture Dr Danilo Mandic, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the Entertainment Law LLM programme at Westminster, said: "It was fascinating to witness and listen to Sir Richard Arnold's mastery and knowledge on the challenges of the performance rights in the UK and in particular the cases surrounding the posthumous performance rights of Jimi Hendrix."
Guest lectures at the University and the work of the Westminster Law School contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Find out more about studying Law at the University of Westminster.
Related articles
