Panayiotou V Sony Music International

PANAYIOTOU V SONY MUSIC INTERNTIONAL

Hi! I’m George. I do the music.
I’m Andrew.
No-one knows what I’m for….

Together, we’re WHAM!!!

That’s right Andrew. Our nice lawyer said the contract was restraining us or something. In the end we agreed to compromise though and moved to CBS records!
We had a deal with our record company, Inner Vision. We didn’t like it!

He’s an idiot. I’m off!
However, all good things must come to an end….

It’s 1988. Now I’m a megastar solo artist, and I want my contract with CBS changed to reflect my superstar status. Otherwise it’s a restraint of trade!

We bought CBS. We’re George’s boss now!
We’ll renegotiate his original agreement to reflect his superstar status.
He’ll get £11 million under it this year!

I’m in the money!!!!
Two years later, I renegotiate again and get even more dosh out of them!

I’ve changed my mind now.
I’m fed up of cheese. I want a new cool image, and artistic freedom and stuff.
Those corporate drones at Sony are holding me back from expressing my creativity in the way I choose….

I want the 1988 contract declared void for restraint of trade.
Where’s my lawyer?

Here I am George. We can try to persuade the judge that the agreement is a restraint of trade. This will make the contract VOID!
You can then pursue your new musical direction, although I’m more of a Wham! girl myself.

Not if me and SONY have anything to do with it, he won’t!

Sorry George, your compromise agreement was actually a better deal than the previous one. You can’t avoid it – it would be against public policy!
Otherwise, no compromise agreement would ever be valid!
I preferred your old stuff, anyway.

The key point of this case is that you can’t argue restraint of trade if the agreement you are arguing about is actually a good deal for you when it is made.
It is in the public interest to uphold genuine compromises otherwise no compromise would ever be enforceable!
George Michael was not put under unfair pressure and he had one of the toughest negotiators around. It’s only right that my client was allowed to keep George to his agreement!
It also helps that Judge Deed loves me...

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Panayiotou V Sony Music International

by Mr Howells on Mar 31, 2010

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Panayiotou V Sony Music International — Presentation Transcript