Apple, EMI come together to settle Beatles royalties dispute

It's been a busy week for the Beatles' Apple Corps, which announced on Thursday that it has settled a bitter royalties dispute with the band's record label, EMI.

Apple, which guards the commercial interests of the iconic band, issued a joint statement with EMI announcing they had "settled on mutually acceptable terms last month."

They declined to reveal any other details about the settlement.

In December 2005, Apple filed a fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against EMI in London's High Courtand against EMI subsidiary Capitol Records in the Supreme Court in New York.

Apple accused the music company of using fraudulent schemes to withhold royalties of more than $50 million US from the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the families of George Harrison and John Lennon.

The two sides had previously fought over royalties and other issues in a decade-long legal battle beginning in 1979. They ultimately settled out of court in 1989.

With both sides now on friendlier terms, the settlement could finally pave the way for online distribution of the Fab Four's music catalogue which EMI and other firms have sought for years. EMI owns the copyright, in perpetuity, to all the Beatles' recordings.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that its chief executive Neil Aspinall, a longtime friend of the band and former schoolmate of McCartney and Harrison, had resigned his post.

A day later, the company revealed a joint lawsuit it has filed with EMI against a British cleaning service they claim destroyed several boxes of archival Beatles photography in 2001.