A jury concluded that 2 Live Crew should use a copyright ‘termination right’ to reclaim their songs from a company that purchased them out of bankruptcy.
The classic hip-hop duo 2 Live Crew has won a jury ruling, enabling them to reclaim legal ownership of the bulk of their library from a tiny record company that has controlled their copyrights for decades. On Wednesday, a federal jury in Florida ruled that members of the group and their heirs may use copyright “termination rights,” which basically enable authors to reclaim their works decades after they were sold to another corporation.
Attorneys for Lil Joe Records, which purchased the band’s library out of bankruptcy in 1996, argued that termination should not apply to 2 Live Crew’s records since the collection was “work for hire,” which means no copyright was given in the first place. However, 2 Live Crew’s counsel argued that the right to terminate was “inalienable” and could not be relinquished, to which the jury agreed.
Termination rights allow the original owner of a copyright to reclaim their rights after a certain amount of time, often 35 years, depending on the legislation in question. The contentious provision has been debated for decades, and 2 Live Crew’s success may inspire similar moves by other musicians.
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As a consequence of the jury’s decision, 2 Live Crew’s Uncle Luke (Luther Campbell) and the heirs of Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won) and Brother Marquis (Mark Ross) may use the termination right to restore legal custody of their five albums. This contains their provocative 1989 album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be.
Lil Joe Records’ lead lawyer, Richard Wolfe, and the label’s owner, Joe Weinberger, have promised to fight the ruling, claiming it raises “novel legal questions about the interplay between termination rights and federal bankruptcy law.”
“The bankruptcy code is clear that all assets of a bankruptcy party are part of the bankruptcy estate,” Wolf pointed out. “All means all.”
2 Live Crew’s lawsuit began in late 2020, when they informed Lil Joe that they intended to seek termination and reclaim control of their songs. The two parties were unable to reach a compromise, so Lil Joe sued the organization in federal court.
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