Procol Harum reclaim 'Whiter Shade'

Procol Harum's Gary Brooker has won a court case over royalties for the hit 1967 song 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'.

The band's former keyboard player Matthew Fisher was awarded 40% of the track's copyright in 2006 after London's High Court deemed that he wrote the organ music for the song.

Brooker appealed the ruling, and Lord Justice John Mummery yesterday returned full royalty rights to the band's founding member.

In his judgement, Mummery stated that Fisher had taken too long to bring the case to court: "Matthew Fisher is guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in his claim to assert joint title to a joint interest in the work.

"He silently stood by and acquiesced in the defendant's commercial exploitation of the work for 38 years."

Fisher hit back at the decision on his official website, calling Mummery's reasoning behind the verdict "obscure and oblique".

"Having demolished every single argument advanced by Gary Brooker's legal team... Mummery suddenly produced an argument of his own, like a magician producing a rabbit out of a hat," wrote Fisher.

'Whiter Shade of Pale', a mournful ballad, was named the most-played record by British broadcasting in 2004 and more than 800 recorded cover versions of the track exist.