Celebrated composer Ennio Morricone has won the rights to six scores he composed for six Italian films in the 1970s and 1980s, a Manhattan-based federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a previous ruling by a Southern District judge.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the 90-year-old Oscar-winning composer, who is best known for his scores to films such as “The Mission,” “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly,” and “The Hateful 8,” was allowed to escape an agreement with Italian music publisher Bixio Music Group under a U.S. law that allows copyright assignments to be terminated after 35 years.

The ruling, a clear appellate win for Morricone and his attorney Jane Ginsburg, ended a seven-year dispute over rights to the musical scores and nearly three years of litigation that touched on U.S. and Italian property law.

Former U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Bixio and its Loeb & Loeb attorneys in 2017, finding that, under Italian law, the scores were “works made for hire” and thus not subject to termination under Section 203 of the Copyright Act.

On appeal, Ennio Morricone Music Inc., the assignee of the composer’s copyrights, argued that Italian law contained no parallel to the “works made for hire” exception under U.S. statute and that Bixio had only gained the rights by assignment from the scores’ author.

Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, writing for the panel, agreed Wednesday in an eight-page opinion, citing “meaningful differences” between Italian law and the U.S. doctrine.

“The Italian scheme is thus missing an important feature of the U.S. system, and could result in overbroad application of the ‘work made for hire’ doctrine,” said Jacobs, joined in his opinion by Judges Amalya Kearse and Peter Hall.

Ginsburg, a professor of literary and artistic property law at Columbia School of Law, declined to comment on the decision.

According to court documents, Morricone entered agreed to compose the musical scores in exchange for a one-time upfront payment of 3 million Italian lire, limited ongoing royalties, a film credit and 300 copies of phonographic discs. He served Bixio with a notice of termination in 2012, and filed his declaratory judgment action in October 2016.

According to Wednesday’s ruling, Morricone Music would now have the rights to perform the music, reproduce it new recordings or sell it for use in other films.

Barry Slotnick, a partner with Loeb & Loeb, did not immediately respond to a message Wednesday afternoon seeking comment on the ruling.

The case was captioned Ennio Morricone Music v. Bixio Music Group.

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