A soon to be decided case heard by the 9th Circuit last month will decide an important issue regarding an author’s heirs right to terminate copyright assignments to a third party. Ray Charles willed royalty rights to the Ray Charles Foundation, but his children are attempting to terminate those rights under Section 304(c) of the U.S. Copyright Act. The foundation is appealing a district court decision in favor of the Charles children and finding the foundation lacked standing to challenge the termination, and is asserting a defense of first impression that they have standing to challenge because Charles’ compositions at issue were “works made for hire.”
See Jonathan B. Altschul, Ray Charles Case to Set Important Copyright Termination Precedent, Pay or Play, March 20, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
