In the legal action, according to court documents, the estates sought a declaration of entitlement to shares in copyright ownership for approximately 40 studio recordings, though the specific recordings were not disclosed. They also claimed ownership of performers' rights related to those recordings. Sony Music Entertainment UK defended the case, arguing that original recording copyright belonged to the producers rather than the musicians.
The estates' lawyer, Simon Malynicz KC, argued that the band was one of the most commercially successful of its era, and that the musicians died in relative poverty while the recordings remained lucrative. Justice Edwin Johnson acknowledged that modern music delivery methods, such as digital downloads and streaming, were not foreseen at the time of the 1966 agreement, and commented that the agreement's terms might have been unfair to the band members, but noted that no challenge was made to the agreement itself. Sony Music Entertainment UK has been using the recordings in the UK since 2009 and retains the right to continue doing so, according to the judge, but the value of the disputed claims and any potential outstanding payments remain unknown.