Thanks again for your reply greg. I have to admit, the "bigger principles" have me baffled. I just don't see any "bigger principles" at stake than musicians learning not to sell their rights without consulting a good lawyer.

As to your suggestion that Mr. Bulmer be charitable and just give Nic the masters and rights for his catalog so Nic could put out the "priceless" reissues himself--that sort of reasoning goes a bit too far the other side of sensibility and fairness, IMO. Mr. Bulmer's business interest in hanging on to the masters and rights to the back catalogues he invested in when no one would have anything to do with them, is just as legitimate as Nic's desire to have the masters and rights to music he himself sold for cash of his own free will.

Sometimes it really does pay to let bygones be bygones, and let the sleeping dogs lie, as they say.