Legal Research

Beatles? Song Copyright

By Simon Fodden

According to the headline of an article in Wired, “Jackson?s Death Puts Lucrative Beatles Copyrights in Play.” Part of the tangle that is the estate of Michael Jackson is 50% ownership of the copyright to the songs composed by the Beatles. Jackson beat out McCartney in a 1985 auction of the rights (for a mere $47 million) and sold half ownership to Sony. Jackson’s half was subsequently given as collateral for one of the loans he obtained.

Of course, it will take some time to sort out who owns and who owes what. One imagines lawyers will be involved. But if the rumoured will in which Michael bequeathed his rights to Sir Paul actually exists… and if insolvency doesn’t inhale all of Jackson’s interests… things may come up roses for Macca… if he outlives the lawsuits.

So if you want to free Jude, go out and buy lots of Jackson and Beatles disks. It might be as simple as that. Eventually.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).