Jonathan Altschul was quoted in The Daily Journal article "Battle over Ray Charles Songs Next Frontier for Termination Rights." Full text can be found in the February 11, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is below.
A feud between Ray Charles' children and a charitable foundation Charles set up has sparked a new twist on an impassioned legal dispute: Whether his heirs have an almost absolute priority of recovering the rights to Charles' song compositions, or if the foundation to which Charles dedicated his estate also has a stake.
A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel will hear oral arguments in a declaratory relief lawsuit brought by the Ray Charles Foundation to prevent seven of Charles' 12 children from exercising their termination rights.
Congress was so intent on protecting artists and their heirs that it explicitly provided that termination rights are inalienable. But the lawsuits and complex copyright renegotiations that have emanated from termination rights have divided entertainment lawyers, with some calling the provisions paternalistic.
Jonathan Altschul, who is not involved in the Charles case but is the lawyer for Smokey Robinson in an unrelated termination rights lawsuit, called the rights "great policy" and an "intentionally paternalistic" attempt to fend off unsavory show business opportunists.
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