The legendary Ray Charles is remembered for the numerous hits he recorded during his lifetime. Less well known is that he was the father of 12 children and that he left much of his estate to a foundation dedicated to assisting the hearing impaired as well as other charitable endeavors. The royalties from those musical hits and the competing interests of his children and the foundation recently gave rise to a federal district court decision about who has standing to assert a right of termination under the Copyright Act.1
The decision joins a procession of case law that is slowly clarifying the intricate termination provisions of the act. In broad strokes, the act permits an author’s statutory successors, after the author’s death, to terminate certain assignments or licenses of rights in the author’s works upon notice to the grantee (or the grantee’s successors, if applicable). The notice must be served at least two years and no more than 10 years prior to the effective date of termination, which must occur within a statutory time period. Among the many details of this process, however, legal issues lie in wait.
