Sony Denied Implied License for Miller Songs

The Tennessee federal district court in 2005 and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 2007 both agreed that Sony owned the renewal terms to Roger Miller's 1958-1963 songs. (The Sixth Circuit had also decided that Miller's renewal copyrights were to be divided 50% to the surviving spouse and the other 50% among the author's children. Broadcast Music Inc. v. Roger Miller Music Inc., 396 F.3d 762 (6th Cir. 2005).) But Miller died in 1992, at the end of the initial 28-year copyright term that applied to the 1964 and later songs, and thus didn't live to when the renewal term took effect on Jan. 1, 1993. On remand, the district court decided that under the federal Copyright Act, '304(a)(1)(C), the renewal terms for the post-1963 songs thus vested in Miller's heirs, rather than Sony.

In his most recent opinion, U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr. ruled: “To the extent the [c]ourt had [also] earlier found Sony was an implied licensee, the [c]ourt sets aside that conclusion as an impermissible amendment to [']304(a)(1)(C). Thus, Sony lacks any defense to Plaintiffs' infringement claims for 1964 and post-1964 songs.”