A Louisiana federal judge has finalized an unusual legal decision that says American copyright termination rules apply not just stateside but also across the globe, unswayed by warnings that it will cause “destabilization of long-settled business practices” in the music industry.
Ruling on a dispute over the 1963 rock classic “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love),” Judge Shelly Dick said Thursday that songwriter Cyril Vetter could win back full copyright ownership to the track from publisher Resnik Music Group via termination — an important federal provision that allows artists to take back their rights decades after they sold them away.
What makes the ruling notable is that Judge Dick said Vetter could recapture rights to the song “throughout the world,” not just in the U.S. That’s a big departure from the status quo under longstanding legal precedents, which say that reversions apply only to the American market and have no effect on rights in foreign countries.
Resnik has warned that such a decision will be deeply disruptive to the music industry. In court filings, the company has argued it will “upend” existing practices and could even violate international treaty obligations: “The result would be chaos … rather than the orderly system that the nations of the world have in fact developed over more than a century.”
Music attorneys have also taken notice. Tal Dickstein, a prominent litigator at the law firm Loeb & Loeb, wrote in August that Judge Dick was “breaking with existing precedent” by extending the power of termination overseas. Eric J. Schwartz, an attorney at the firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, said the ruling would be a “major upheaval” if upheld (though he said that “seems unlikely”). Bill Hochberg, another longtime music attorney, went much further, saying the “Double Shot” case could “radically revolutionize the way the music business runs” and might be “financially devastating” for large entertainment companies.
The ruling for Vetter — largely explained in an earlier decision last summer and finalized in Thursday’s judgment — is likely to be challenged at a federal appeals court; defense attorneys already attempted to file an appeal at an earlier stage in the case. An attorney for Resnik did not immediately return a request for comment on the ruling on Friday (Jan. 31).
If it were to be adopted in courts across the country, Judge Dick’s approach would be a boon for songwriters and their heirs. Under existing precedent and practices, publishers often continue to own foreign rights even after a U.S. termination, giving them potential veto power over cross-border projects and a bargaining chip in negotiations with the artist. Under the new ruling, songwriters would get back all of their rights, not just their American copyright.
For Tim Kappel, the attorney who represented Vetter in the case, that’s exactly the point — helping songwriters truly get the artist-friendly protections that federal lawmakers envisioned when they created the termination right in the 1970s.
“The [ruling] is consistent with Congress’ intent to provide creators with a second chance to benefit from the fruits of their labor,” Kappel tells Billboard. “There’s a fundamental fairness to that result that Mr. Vetter is dedicated to defending.”
Asked about the cries of “chaos” from his opponents, Kappel called those claims “speculative and fairly alarmist.” As to whether the ruling will “destabilize” music industry practices, he said those practices might just be ripe for disruption.
“A court is not bound to interpret the Copyright Act so as to conform to comfortable business practices,” Kappel said. “In fact, to the extent these business practices rely on misguided legal theories that prevent artists and writers from receiving the full benefit of their termination rights, we believe such practices are rightfully destabilized.”
