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Unsettled Issues Are Raised By Bid to Terminate Copyright Grants in Village People Songs
To complement our recent article on the termination of rights under copyright in sound recordings (see, “Issues in Terminating Copyright Grants in Sound Recordings,” Entertainment Law & Finance, Dec. 2011, p.3, http://bit.ly/zfd5JA), we focus here on termination of rights under copyright in musical compositions ' and particularly on the pending lawsuit in California in which rights in some iconic songs made famous by the Village People are in dispute. Scorpio Music (Black Scorpio) S.A. v. Victor Willis, 3:11-CV- 01557 (S.D. Calif.). The songs include “YMCA” and “In the Navy,” which were co-authored by the group's lead singer Victor Willis. He maintains that the copyright termination statute should be interpreted literally, allowing him, as a co-author of a joint work that signed a separate grant, to terminate rights to his own contribution without having a majority of co-authors terminate all rights. Two music publishers maintain that this result would contravene the spirit of the law.
Statutory Termination Provisions
As noted in our last article, the 1976 Copyright Act gave authors and their successors a way to terminate pre-1978 grants under copyright in certain pre-1978 works through 17 U.S.C. '304(c). (Section 304(c) was enacted in 1976; '304(d), which provides a second termination window for certain works, became law in 1998.)
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