Here's a real interesting copyright case about returning control of the 1963 hit “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)" to the original author Cyril Vetter. They've won the case twice in lower courts, but now the music industry is striking back and escalating it to the supreme court to take it back!
We’ve Been Told We’re Crazy’: Lawyers in Landmark Copyright Case Aren’t Backing Down https://www.billboard.com/pro/lawyers-in-landmark-copyright-case-arent-backing-down/ When Tim Kappel and Loren Wells first filed a lawsuit in 2023 aimed at helping Cyril Vetter win back control of the global rights to his 1963 rock classic “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love),” it was clearly a long shot. Copyright termination, the rule they were invoking, had historically only applied to U.S. rights. ... .... Vetter won his case at a district court, which issued a first-of-its-kind ruling last year that said termination applies to overseas rights just the same as domestic rights. Then in January, against the opposition of major music groups and the predictions of many copyright experts, they won again at a federal appeals court. ... ... Now, the major music companies are striking back, taking over the case with the goal of taking it to the U.S. Supreme Court. .... ... I don’t think Congress ever intended termination rights to be a vehicle through which a rights holder can slice up a copyright into hundreds of pieces and give you back a little sliver. I gave you an asset; when you return it to me, because you’re required to do so by law, give me back all of what I gave you. LW: 35 years is plenty of time. And we know that because most music deals now are not for perpetuity. ... Most recording agreements these days are on license bases. The argument that in order to make it fair for the companies, they need to have the rights forever, that just doesn’t check out under basic logic .,. . .. Though it deals with an arcane legal issue, that ruling has been the talk of the music industry. Artist advocacy groups have hailed it as a “game-changer” for musicians, allowing them to fully recapture their rights as Congress first intended..... We actually get asked that a lot! We’ll be talking about termination rights and people will ask “Is this like the Taylor Swift thing?” And it’s obviously a different legal issue. But you’re right: She has brought the issue of ownership of your intellectual property assets to the public to an extent that it really had never been before. ....."
Evidently the group "Salt and Pepper" also have a similar fight for their own rights too: https://www.billboard.com/pro/salt-n-pepa-umg-music-ownership-appeal-irving-azoff-support/