Ray Charles' 12 Children Win Lawsuit Over Song Rights Termination

In a year when record labels and song publishers are receiving termination notices, Ray Charles' children have prevailed in the first step in winning back song rights.

Charles' 12 children have just survived the first big challenge in their termination attempt.

When he died in 2004, Charles left most of his estate to the Ray Charles Foundation, a charity that supports the vision- or hearing-impaired.

As for Charles' children, before he died, the singer gathered most of them (two were in jail) and told them that they each would be given an irrevocable trust for $500,000 -- and that's all they'd get.

Years later, when the children attempted to grab back rights to Charles' songs under the termination clauses of copyright law, the foundation sued, alleging that the children had breached their agreements with their father. Further, the foundation sought a declaration that the termination notices were invalid.

In reaction to the lawsuit, the children, represented by attorney Marc Toberoff, brought an anti-SLAPP motion, urging the court to reject the claims.

Read the ruling in full here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/122997570/Ray-Charles

A key issue in the possibility of termination is whether or not Charles' songs were written as works made for hire and whether he was employed by Atlantic Records and Progressive Music Publishing at the time he composed them. Again, that goes to the issue of whether the songs are eligible to be terminated in the first place.

The foundation wavered on the issue, so the judge addressed both possibilities.

If Charles's songs were not made for hire, and he owned them when he died, the judge says that the "Copyright Act prevents the Court from interpreting the agreements signed by Defendants as limiting their statutory termination rights" -- in other words, when Ray Charles gathered his children and gave them $500,000 and no more, the agreement couldn't include a waiver against termination because that would be something known in legal parlance as an "agreement to the contrary," which some past courts in California have ruled is unenforceable so far as termination attempts go.

The ruling certainly is a victory for Charles' children, not to mention Toberoff, who has experienced a string of stinging termination defeats in recent months in the war over Superman rights.

But it might not end the issue because the judge hasn't addressed whether the songs were works made for hire. Clearly, that would be something for Warner/Chappell to challenge if it so chooses.

If that happens, it not only would represent the newest chapter of Toberoff vs. Warner, but it would be a hugely important case that likely would gather the attention of Journey, Joel and all others who are attempting to win back rights to songs.

Read More... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/ray-charles-children-win-lawsuit-416809