Four justices stepped aside over ties to Penguin Random House, BMG’s sister company. That leaves in place a ruling that lets U.S. songwriters reclaim their songs worldwide.
In 1962, Cyril Vetter co-wrote “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love).” Sixty-four years later, the fight over who controls that song outside the U.S. has ended in a way nobody expected: with half of the Supreme Court sitting it out.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear Vetter v. Resnik, a case that the four major music publishers wanted it to use to overturn a ruling on songwriters’ termination rights. The reason isn’t the law. Four of the nine justices recused themselves because of their ties to Penguin Random House, which has published books by all four. Penguin Random House is owned by Bertelsmann, which also owns BMG, one of the publishers in the case.
U.S. law lets songwriters take back the rights to songs they signed away to publishers decades ago: after 35 years for newer works, and after 56 years for songs from before 1978. For decades, the industry assumed that reclaimed rights applied only in the U.S., while publishers kept the song in the rest of the world.
Vetter disagreed. When ABC wanted to license “Double Shot” worldwide for a show, he argued that his termination covered the whole world. A district court agreed, and so did the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Universal, Sony, Warner and BMG bought the original publisher’s stake in the song to take over the case. They called the ruling a “fringe legal theory” that would cause “chaos” and asked the Supreme Court to overturn it.
But the Court needs at least six justices to hear a case. With only five left, the remaining justices concluded it “couldn’t be heard and decided” within the next year. Under that rule, the Fifth Circuit’s decision stands.
It isn’t the first time: last year, the same four justices recused themselves from a copyright case involving Bertelsmann and author Ta-Nehisi Coates, for similar reasons.
Vetter’s lawyer, Tim Kappel, said he was “very pleased” but noted there is “still work to do.” The Songwriters Guild of America and Music Creators North America said they were proud to have helped secure the result. Gabe Roth of the watchdog group Fix The Court said that “today’s recusals make clear that the Supreme Court’s current disqualification standards need review.”
The ruling only binds courts in the Fifth Circuit for now. If another appeals court decides differently, the question could come back to the Supreme Court, as long as enough justices are free to hear it.
For songwriters in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, “worldwide” just became the law. For everyone else, the fight is not over.
Sources: CMU
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