Supreme Court leaves songwriter's global rights win in place
The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 19 refused to overturn a ruling that lets songwriters take back copyrights around the world, not only in the United States.
The order leaves in place a January win for songwriter Cyril Vetter over his 1963 song "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)," as reported by Billboard. It was a short order. The court gave no reasons.
Vetter's case centred on copyright termination, the U.S. rule that lets creators end old transfers after several decades and reclaim their work. The fight was about reach. Vetter argued that termination pulls back foreign rights as well as domestic rights.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed with him in January in a case captioned Vetter v. Resnik, No. 25-30108. It affirmed a district court judgment in his favour and rejected earlier precedent that limited termination under 17 U.S.C. section 304(c) to U.S. rights. Court papers note it was undisputed that Vetter's termination, alongside a renewal claim by the heirs of his co-writer, had already recaptured the U.S. rights.
In June, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group and BMG asked the Supreme Court to reverse that outcome. The majors were not original parties to the dispute. They acquired the small publisher that held Vetter's music in order to bring the petition, docketed as No. 25-1391.
The Oct. 19 refusal keeps Vetter's victory intact. It does not make the Fifth Circuit's view binding across the country. Appeals courts covering New York and Los Angeles, where much of the music business is based, are not bound by it.
Four justices did not take part: Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Filings in the case included a friend-of-the-court brief from Paramount, a brief in opposition filed on Sept. 14 and a reply in support of review filed on Sept. 30.
For artists watching from the sidelines, the practical point is simple. Who holds the rights decides who can license a song abroad and who gets paid. That question is now settled for Vetter, but other songwriters in other circuits may still have to argue it.
