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Prior Agreement Bars Termination of Song Rights

By Brendan Pierson
December 31, 2013

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that music publisher EMI can keep the rights to the 1934 hit song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” for another 25 years. Baldwin v. EMI Feist Catalog Inc., 12-cv-09360. Family members of co-songwriter John Frederick Coots sued EMI in 2011 after repeatedly serving notices that they were terminating their copyright agreement with EMI under provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976. Coots had served such a notice in 1981 and was able to get a $100,000 bonus in exchange for extending his copyright assignment to EMI's predecessor Leo Feist Inc.

The key issue in the dispute was whether the 1981 agreement superseded an earlier 1951 agreement. If it did, then the Copyright Act would give the plaintiffs the right to terminate the agreement. If it didn't, the 1951 agreement would remain in effect until 2029. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin found that the 1951 agreement remained in effect because the parties did not properly record the 1981 agreement with the Copyright Office.

' Brendan Pierson, New York Law Journal

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that music publisher EMI can keep the rights to the 1934 hit song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” for another 25 years. Baldwin v. EMI Feist Catalog Inc., 12-cv-09360. Family members of co-songwriter John Frederick Coots sued EMI in 2011 after repeatedly serving notices that they were terminating their copyright agreement with EMI under provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976. Coots had served such a notice in 1981 and was able to get a $100,000 bonus in exchange for extending his copyright assignment to EMI's predecessor Leo Feist Inc.

The key issue in the dispute was whether the 1981 agreement superseded an earlier 1951 agreement. If it did, then the Copyright Act would give the plaintiffs the right to terminate the agreement. If it didn't, the 1951 agreement would remain in effect until 2029. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin found that the 1951 agreement remained in effect because the parties did not properly record the 1981 agreement with the Copyright Office.

' Brendan Pierson, New York Law Journal

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