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A U.S. federal appeals court has overturned 2 Live Crew‘s previous victory in their extensive legal battle to reclaim their catalog, returning the masters to Lil’ Joe Records.
On Tuesday, June 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the October 2024 verdict that cleared the Miami hip-hop group to reclaim five of their albums under U.S. copyright law’s termination right. The full published opinion can be read online.
The court ruled the group’s 2020 notice terminating their copyright grants was ineffective, meaning the recordings remain with Lil’ Joe Records. The label, owned by Joseph Weinberger, acquired the masters from the 1995 bankruptcy of 2 Live Crew leader Luther Campbell’s label, Luke Records.
“Because a majority of 2 Live Crew did not exercise their termination interests, Luke Records still owns the copyrights to these five albums,” Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher wrote for a three-judge panel that included Judges Jill Pryor and Robert Luck.
The decision reverses the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and sends the case back for further proceedings.
2024 District Court Ruling
Under Section 203 of the U.S. Copyright Act, authors, including recording artists, can reclaim previously assigned copyrights up to 35 years later. At the time of the original verdict, Lil’ Joe had owned the rights for 29 years.
2 Live Crew had four members: Campbell, the late Christopher Wong Won (Fresh Kid Ice), the late Mark Ross (Brother Marquis) and David Hobbs. The law requires a majority to sign a termination notice — three did.
In 2020, Campbell, Ross and Wong Won‘s heirs served notice on Lil’ Joe seeking to reclaim the five albums the group recorded between 1986 and 1989, including the 1989 breakout success “As Nasty As They Wanna Be.”
Lil’ Joe attempted to block the reclamation on the basis that the works were “for hire” and therefore the label’s property, but the jury ruled against that argument and 2 Live Crew won the case.
Now, an appeals court has found that the termination is invalid: one of the group’s three signatures does not count.
Appeals Court Overturns Ruling
In 2000, 2 Live Crew member Ross filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, relinquishing his property to a bankruptcy trustee.
Ross’s termination interest was considered property and was included in his bankruptcy estate. Because that interest was never scheduled, administered or formally abandoned in the case, it was under the control of the trustee, not Ross, when he signed the termination in 2020.
With Ross’s signature declared invalid, the notice carried only two of the group’s four members — one short of the majority the statute requires.
The panel described the case as “a question of first impression at the intersection of copyright and bankruptcy,” and was careful to limit its reach. It said it was “not address[ing] how termination interests should be treated in bankruptcy” generally, and was “not decid[ing] … what Ross’s heirs need to do to exercise those interests in the light of his bankruptcy.”
That language appears to leave the group a potential route back, for instance by addressing the rights through Ross’s bankruptcy estate.
2 Live Crew could also ask the full Eleventh Circuit to rehear the case or petition the U.S. Supreme Court.
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