Legal Fight over T Rex Songs Portends Music Industry Battles
As the fathers of rock music have bowed to the inevitability of mortality, their sons, daughters and other statutory heirs could soon be sending jarring vibes across the music industry.
Last week, Rolan Feld, the son of T Rex frontman Marc Bolan filed a lawsuit in California federal court that seeks a declaration that he is now the sole owner of many of Bolan’s famous songs like “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” and “Ride a White Swan.”
Feld was a few days short of his second birthday when his father died of a tragic car accident in 1977 and was raised with the financial support of his godfather David Bowie. He’s now seeking at least $2 million in damages over a music publisher’s continued exploitation of songs.
But this is only a start.
Feld is notably being represented by Robert Allen, former general counsel of Universal Music Publishing Group and now a member of Los Angeles-based firm Gradstein and Marzano. We hear that this is the first of a series of lawsuits that will explore an often overshadowed area of copyright law.
The copyright term is long-lasting – 95 years from publication for many works.
What is less recognized is that for works created before 1978, the term is divided into an initial term of 28 years followed by an extended or renewal term lasting an additional 67 years. Rights to the latter term belong to the living author unless he or she has entered into an agreement transferring those rights. What is even less appreciated is what happens when an author dies during the initial term. In that instance, later rights automatically belong to the author’s heirs, and rather incredibly, not even the musician’s will can change that.
In a 1990 ruling involving Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor articulated Congress’ intention for splitting up the copyright term this way.
“Congress attempted to give the author a second chance to control and benefit from his work,” she wrote. “Congress also intended to secure to the author’s family the opportunity to exploit the work if the author died before he could register for the renewal term.”
Feld is now looking to obtain this benefit, and the defendant music publisher – Westminster Music Limited, said to be doing business in the U.S. as Essex Music International – is objecting.
According to the lawsuit, “Notwithstanding the death of Marc Bolan prior to the vesting of the renewed and extended term and Defendants’ knowledge thereof, Defendants continue to claim ownership of and administer the Compositions in the United States after the expiration of the initial term of copyright in and to each of the Compositions.”
Source: Billboard
