Copyright Ruling Could Extend U.S. Terminations Worldwide

Manatt Entertainment Partners and , and Associates and wrote an article for Law360 discussing the impact that the recent copyright case, Vetter v. Resnik, could have on potentially expanding U.S. termination rights internationally.

According to the article, Don Smith and Cyril Vetter assigned their worldwide interests in a song they composed together to Windsong Music Publishers. When the original copyright term ended, Vetter’s share of the renewal copyrights went to Windsong and Smith’s share went to his heirs after he passed away. Vetter purchased Smith’s heirs’ renewal copyright interest and years later issued a termination notice in the U.S. to Windsong to recapture his initial share. The same year, the company sold its assets to Robert Resnik and ultimately, Vetter discovered that Resnik claimed partial ownership interest in the song since Windsong asserted that it held international rights. In Vetter’s lawsuit, he argued that he was the sole owner of the song since his effective termination notice included international rights and that Berne Convention should require signatory countries to validate copyright terminations internationally if they require them to recognize copyrights originating in other signatory countries. The court sided with Vetter and declared he owned total worldwide rights.

“Although this decision does not have precedential effect at this time — except for the litigants to this case — other plaintiffs who have terminated their copyright grants in the U.S. may seek to leverage this ruling to terminate their grants of foreign copyrights,” the authors wrote, adding, “Stakeholders in the music industry should stay informed of developments in the appeal.”

Daily Journal subscribers can read the full article .