In 1879, Sullivan, Gilbert and Carte were in the midst of a legal battle with the former directors of the Comedy Opera Company, which had produced "H.M.S. Pinafore". Sullivan wrote to Hollingshead, saying: "You once settled a precedent for me which may just at present be of great importance to me. I asked you for the band parts of the "Merry Wives of Windsor"... and said, 'They are yours, as our run is over...' Now will you please let me have them, and the parts of "Thespis" also at once. I am detaining the parts of "Pinafore", so that the directors shall not take them away from the Comique tomorrow, and I base my claim on the precedent "you" set."