Forget love. Money's just fine by the Beatles.
Apple Corps, the company representing Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of the late George Harrison and John Lennon, has reached a settlement in its lawsuit against EMI Group, which accused the record giant of screwing the Beatles out of $59 million in royalties.
Terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
"I can confirm that we have reached a mutually acceptable settlement and that we are not going to comment beyond that," a rep for EMI said.
The seminal Liverpool band sued EMI in London's High Court in December 2005 after two years of negotiations to resolve the accounting dispute amicably fell through.
The dispute began after an audit by Apple Corps determined EMI had shortchanged the band on a percentage of sales of every Beatles album and solo work the moptops produced between 1963 and 1976. Among the records made during that time frame: A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, Abbey Road, Let It Be and Lennon's Imagine.
The announcement of a settlement is good news for Beatles fans, as it now opens the door for the group's vast catalog of hits to finally be released for download via sanctioned Internet sites like iTunes.
The Beatles are one of the last major holdouts among recording acts who've yet to distribute their songs digitally, but the agreement with EMI could change all that—it's expected the two parties will now come together and hash out a royalty plan that encompasses online sales.
In related news, it was announced this week that Apple Corps head Neil Aspinall, overseer of the Beatles' business interests for 40 years, stepped down from his post on Tuesday. The 64-year-old executive got his start as the legendary rockers' road manager and personal assistant before going on to take charge of marketing Beatles music, videos and other merchandise after their split in 1970.
Aspinall was also responsible for initiating previous litigation against EMI in the '80s when Apple accused the label of failing to pay the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers millions of commissions from record giveaways to retailers. Both sides eventually settled out of court in 1989.
He also helped the Beatles get back additional sums by launching various lawsuits over the years on behalf of Apple Corps against similarly-monikered Apple Computer (which has since changed its name to Apple Inc.), alleging trademark infringement.
Apple Corps' latest case against Apple Inc. ended in defeat last May when London's High Court ruled that the computer and gadget maker did not violate the terms of a 1991 settlement by using its fruity logo on iPods and iTunes.
Avoiding another court showdown, the two sides subsequently ended more than two decades of legal wrangling in February by striking a deal that gave Apple Inc. ownership of all the trademarks concerning "Apple," including the logo for iTunes. In exchange, the computer maker agreed to license certain trademarks—the ones pertaining specifically to music—back to Apple Corps.
Since then, rumors of an online deal have been heating up, particularly after Aspinall confirmed several months ago that the Beatles were in the process of remastering their entire repertoire for an online release.