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Big Law

Warner Music Group Is Being Sued by The Jesus and Mary Chain Over Copyright Termination

UK rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain is alleging that Warner Music Group (WMG) won’t terminate the copyright ownership of the band’s early works in spite of that material reaching its effective termination dates starting on January 8, 2021. Jim and William Reid, the two brothers who have led the group since founding it in 1983, filed the lawsuit today, June 14, in a California federal court.

The Reid brothers are seeking $2.5 million in damages for alleged copyright infringement and declaratory relief. They’re building their case around Section 203 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows authors of an original work to terminate grants of copyright ownership 35 years after the work’s original publication.

According to the lawsuit, the Reids sent a notice of termination to WMG for five of their albums on January 7, 2019, as well as some other loose singles and EPs. The albums include most of their most popular records, such as their 1985 debut Psychocandy, which features songs like “Just Like Honey” and “The Hardest Walk,” Darklands (1987), which features “April Skies,” and “Happy When It Rains,” their 1988 B-sides/rarities compilation album Barbed Wire Kisses, their 1989 record Automatic and their 1992 record Honey’s Dead. The rest of their catalog has yet to reach its legal termination dates.

Read the source article at mxdwn Music

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