To complement our October column in which we focused on termination of rights under copyright in sound recordings,1 we will focus here on termination of rights under copyright in musical compositions, and particularly on a pending lawsuit in California2 in which rights in some iconic songs made famous by the Village People are in dispute. They 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 who 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.

As noted in our last column, the 1976 Copyright Act gave authors and their successors a way to terminate pre-1978 grants under copyright in certain pre-1978 works through Section 304(c).3 Slightly more than a year from now, a second path will open up under Section 203(a)4 through which authors and their successors may recapture rights under grants made in 1978 and afterward. The year 2013 is the first during which terminations via the second path become effective5 and the first in which termination of rights in sound recordings can become effective under either section of the act.6

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