{"id":1882335,"date":"2026-04-14T21:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1882335"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:23:30","slug":"major-labels-hire-elite-supreme-court-attorney-for-battle-over-global-copyright-termination-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1882335","title":{"rendered":"Major Labels Hire Elite Supreme Court Attorney for Battle Over Global Copyright Termination Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2268672983-e1776199783928.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n

\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe major music companies have hired the country\u2019s top U.S. Supreme Court lawyer for a looming battle at the high court over copyright termination rules.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing a first-of-its-kind court ruling that musicians can enforce U.S. termination rules across the globe, the majors are now pushing the Supreme Court to overturn it, arguing that it has \u201cupended\u201d longstanding music industry norms on how such reversions work.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Tim<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018We\u2019ve Been Told We\u2019re Crazy\u2019: Lawyers in Landmark Copyright Case Aren\u2019t Backing\u00a0Down\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

    \n
  • \n
    Bill Donahue<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    \n\tCourt records now show the labels will be represented in that battle by Paul Clement<\/strong>, a former U.S. Solicitor General and arguably the nation\u2019s most accomplished Supreme Court litigator. He is one of just a handful of lawyers to argue more than 100 cases before the justices.<\/p>\n

    \n\tClement will be tasked with persuading the court to tackle Vetter v. Resnik, in which a lower court ruled in January that artists can use termination to win back not only their American copyrights, but also their overseas rights to the same songs. The decision overturned decades of legal precedent and industry practice that such foreign rights would remain with a publisher even after a termination was executed.<\/p>\n

    \n\tThe Vetter ruling was hailed by artists and advocacy groups as a \u201cgame-changer for music creators,\u201d but it was a clear loss for labels and publishers that currently own those songs. So they executed an unorthodox legal maneuver to take the case to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

    \n\tLast month, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and BMG \u00a0purchased the disputed copyright from Robert Reznik<\/strong> \u2014 the owner of the small music publisher that lost the landmark case to songwriter Cyril Vetter \u2014 and said they would take over the case so they could appeal it to SCOTUS.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    \n

    \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

    \n
    \n
    \n
    \n
    \"WASHINGTON,<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
    \n
    \n

    \n

    \t\t\t\t\tMajor Labels Take Over Landmark Copyright Termination Case to Force Supreme Court\u00a0Fight\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

      \n
    • \n
      Bill Donahue<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
    • <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      \n\tOn April 3, now represented by Clement, the labels asked the justices for more time to file their appeal. In doing so, they made their first substantive arguments to the high court about the merits of their appeal.<\/p>\n

      \n\t\u201cFor decades, legions of private parties \u2014both in the U.S. and abroad, across various creative industries \u2014 have ordered their affairs on the understanding that termination of the grant of U.S. rights \u2026 does not affect the ownership of rights granted for other territories,\u201d Clement writes in the filing.<\/p>\n

      \n\t\u201cEarlier this year, the [Vetter court] expressly split from those cases and upended those settled industry norms,\u201d Clement adds, calling it an \u201calarming result\u201d that had overturned an \u201cuncontroversial\u201d status quo.<\/p>\n

      \n\tNeither side immediately returned requests for comment.<\/p>\n

      \n\tClement is a powerful ally before the high court, where advocacy has become increasingly dominated in recent years by a small group of elite litigators. He served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush before going into private practice, where he has become known for arguing conservative causes like gay marriage and gun control. But he\u2019s also representing Federal Reserve member Lisa Cook in her current battle with President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

      \n
      \n

      \n

      \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

      \n
      \n
      \n
      \n
      \"Artist<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      \n
      \n

      \n

      \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Game-Changer for Music Creators\u2019: Artist Advocates Hail Big Copyright\u00a0Ruling\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

        \n
      • \n
        Bill Donahue<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
      • <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

        \n\tClement is no stranger to the music business. He just wrapped up representing the same companies in Cox v. Sony, which saw the Supreme Court overturn a $1 billion piracy verdict won by the labels against telecom giant Cox Communications.<\/p>\n

        \n\tIn seeking to have the deadlines extended in the Vetter case, Clement cited his own busy docket \u2014 including pending petitions or arguments in four other separate SCOTUS cases. That motion was granted on Monday by Justice Samuel Alito, giving the labels until next month to file their petition.<\/p>\n

        \"Billboard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

        [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/major-labels-hire-supreme-court-lawyer-global-rights-case\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2268672983-e1776199783928.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard The major music companies have hired the country\u2019s top U.S. Supreme Court lawyer for a looming battle at the high court over copyright termination rules. Following a first-of-its-kind court ruling that musicians can enforce U.S. termination rules across the globe, the majors are now pushing the Supreme Court to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1882335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1882335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1882335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1882335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1882335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}