May 9, 2000 – Early video footage of the Spice Girls must be returned to the man who shot it, a court in London ruled yesterday. The four tapes, reportedly worth millions of dollars (pounds), show the group in their early days before they shot to stardom with their debut single "Wannabe" in 1996. At the High Court in London yesterday, Neil Davies and Helen Bowers, widow of Matthew Bowers who co-produced the videos along with Davies, won a declaration that they were joint owners of the copyright.

Two former friends of Davies, Steven Newman and John Gaudino, had claimed they were his partners at the time and were each entitled to a third share of his 50 percent interest in them. But although the three of them were involved in a company called Rave Productions together, it was not set up until after the videos were made.

The judge, Mr. Justice Pumphrey, said Newman and Gaudino were "very conscious of the value of the Spice Girls footage" when they removed the tapes from Rave Productions' offices while Davies was on holiday in 1996.