Jazz legend Duke Ellington's heirs have lost their longrunning legal battle for increased royalties after taking music publishers at Emi to court.

The late musician's relatives have been fighting for more money from the publishing sales of the composer's work for the past four years, after alleging Emi executives breached a decades-old royalty contract by deducting 50 per cent of commissions for foreign sub-publishers before splitting the rest of the cash with them.

Their initial 2010 lawsuit was previously dismissed, but last month (Sep14), judges at New York's highest court agreed to hear the case to put an end to the dispute once and for all.

However, officials at the Court of Appeals have now ruled against reinstating the Ellington lawsuit, insisting Emi chiefs have not done anything wrong.