LONDON, April 23 (UPI) -- George Harrison's music publisher is suing a firm owned by Michael Jackson and Japanese giant Sony alleging $1.8 million in royalties is owed.
The legal action was filed in High Court by Harrisongs, which is owned by the estate of Harrison and has his widow, Olivia Harrison, serving on the board, reported the Daily Telegraph.
Harrisongs owns the rights to the late Beatle's songs. The current legal action made public for the first time that unpaid royalties of $1.77 million earned between 1991 and June 1999 on 35 songs composed between 1965 and 1968 by Harrison was paid by the Jackson/Sony joint venture last November -- three years after the former Beatle died.
The current lawsuit is seeking an alleged underpayment of royalties from July 1999 to the present, and seeks to settle a payment structure until the songs' copyright expires in 2081.
