A music company fears it will lose #1 million and face closure if it loses its last-ditch legal battle over a CD of works recorded by a Birmingham choir.

Hyperion Records is appealing against last July's High Court landmark judgment in favour of musicologist Dr Lionel Sawkins.

Dr Sawkins claimed he was owed copyright on musical scores performed on a CD, entitled Music For the Sun King and sold by Hyperion, by the Jewellery Quarter-based choir Ex Cathedra.

Dr Sawkins, an expert on the music's original 17th Century French composer Michel-Richard de Lalande, said he made the scores performable for the recording by adding orchestral parts.

Hyperion is appealing against Mr Justice Patten's ruling because they believe the copyright only belongs to the music's original composer. Copyright normally lapses 70 years after a composer's death.

The recording industry fears the case could establish a precedent that royalties are paid on the music of long-dead composers.

Simon Perry, director of Hyperion, said: "The copyright belongs to the 17th Century composer. A significant proportion of Dr Sawkins' editorial amendments were performance indicators, such as phrasing and temp marks, which warrant an editor's fee only and not copyright. Dr Sawkins was paid more than #1,300 for this.

"There were also a number of corrections of textual errors necessary to restore a plausible version of the music as it appears in the manuscript source.

"While this is obviously valuable work, this is not in any way creative or original.

"Hyperion made the decision to appeal because it felt that there were several issues that were not addressed or properly understood in the original case.

" Hyperion stands to lose #1million in this case.

"This is a potentially crippling sum for a company of Hyperion's size and is likely to threaten the company's position as a flagship British enterprise on the international music scene."

Ex Cathedra's CD recording of the Lalande works sold 3,332 copies worldwide before Hyperion withdrew it after the trial.

The dispute brought an abrupt end to a 12-years collaboration between Dr Sawkins and Ex Cathedra to promote Lalande's music, including a performance at the BBC Proms in 1999.

John Pulford, chairman of Ex Cathedra, said: "Simple common sense logic says that copyright should be with the person who did the original composition, not somebody who rearranges some of the notes hundreds of years later."

But Dr Sawkins said: "The law recognises copyright on the basis of the skill that involved. My work could be called a musical arrangement.

"I had to compose two of the five orchestral parts in one work because they were missing.

" No single manuscript or printed source was playable because it had no viola parts. I had to make roughly 3,000 amendments which took at least 1,200 hours.

"If I had just tweaked a note or two and put my name on the end, I could understand it, but that is certainly not the case. I feel betrayed.

"I am quite confident that the Appeal Court will uphold the judge's decision in my favour."

The result of the appeal is expected this summer.