The Jesus & Mary Chain sue Warner Music for copyright infringement
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The Jesus and Mary channel filed a copyright infringement claim against Warner Music, “based on WMG’s refusal to allow JAMC to terminate copyrights 35 years after the initial release of the JAMC albums,” including their first 1985 album, Psychocandy. The lawsuit seeks “legal damages for willful copyright infringement in the amount of $ 2.55 million.”
This lawsuit concerns section 203 of the Copyright Act 1976, also known as the â35 Years Actâ. It “allows performers to terminate the rights grants they have granted to record companies, 35 years after publication of the works, and restores US copyright ownership in sound recordings to the artists who have them.” registered â. This is what allowed Gang of Four to reclaim the rights to their first tracks and release them as a boxed set on Matador earlier this year.
Lawsuit claims Warner Music has so far “willfully and stubbornly” refused to comply with JAMC’s termination notice regarding their five albums for the label – Psychocandy, 1987 Dark lands, the 1988 compilation Barbed wire kisses, the years 1989 Automatic, and the years 1992 Honey is dead – as well as a few singles. Some of them, like their first singles and Psychocandy, have passed their termination dates in January.
In December 2020, a lawyer for the Warner Rhino label replied, âWMG owns the worldwide copyright in each of the sound recordings comprising the works noted, and the notice is not effective in terminating the US rights to WMG, “claiming that William Reid, Jim Reid and former CMAJ bassist Douglas Hart had agreed that”[WMG predecessor] WEA was the “creator” of the noted works and the first owner of the copyright in the noted works “when signing with WEA. “As a result, you never owned any copyright in any recordings you might terminate.”
In a press release, JAMC’s lawyer Evan S. Cohen said: âOur copyright law offers performers and songwriters a unique and valuable chance to terminate old agreements and get their creative works back after 35 years. In this case against WMG, the label refused to recognize the validity of one of the termination notices served by The Jesus and Married Chain, and completely ignored the band’s property rights. Despite the law restoring the American rights to the group, WMG continues to exploit these recordings and thus deliberately infringes the copyrights of our customers. This behavior must stop. The legal issues in this lawsuit are of paramount importance to the music industry.
You can read the full trial here.
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