Cher’s dispute with Sonny Bono estate over termination right continues

completemusicupdate.com:

The widow of Sonny Bono has urged a Californian court to throw out a recent legal claim made by Cher, which centres on how the pesky termination right in US copyright law impacts on a deal done in the 1970s after Bono and Cher split up both professionally and personally.Bono and Cher began working together in the early 1960s, subsequently marrying and then enjoying much success together in both music and on TV.

However, the marriage ended in 1975, and their double act ended soon after. Following all that, a deal was done in 1978 that provided Cher with a 50% share in the royalties being generated by the songs and recordings that had been released during the couple’s time together, professionally and personally.That deal has been in force ever since, but – it seems – Bono’s widow Mary and the Bono Collection Trust that oversees the late musician’s estate is now seeking to change that arrangement.The Trust has been using the termination right – which allows creators to eventually terminate old deals via which they assigned their copyrights to other entities – in order to claim more control over some of Bono’s catalogue.

Not only that, but the Trust also argues that the terminations impact on the royalty and veto rights Cher secured in the 1978 deal.Seeking court confirmation that, on that latter point, the Trust is wrong, Cher filed a lawsuit last year stating: “This action has become necessary because now, more than 40 years after plaintiff received her 50% ownership of her and Sonny’s community property, Sonny’s fourth wife and widow, defendant Mary Bono, claims that a wholly inapplicable statutory termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976 has undone plaintiff’s ownership of her royalties from the songs and.