Music Publishers File SCOTUS Cert Petition to Reverse Fifth Circuit's Worldwide Copyright Termination Ruling

Four major music publishing companies—the publishing arms of Sony, Universal, and Warner, joined by BMG—have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to overturn a Fifth Circuit ruling that U.S. copyright termination rights extend to a songwriter's rights worldwide. The case centers on Cyril Vetter's 1962 song "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)" and whether two distinctly American mechanisms—copyright termination and the 1909 Act's renewal right—can reach beyond U.S. borders. After the original defendant showed no interest in continuing the fight, the publishers purchased his stake in March expressly to carry the challenge to the Supreme Court, a move the district court approved on March 31.

The publishers retained Paul Clement, a former U.S. Solicitor General and one of the most prolific Supreme Court advocates on record, to lead their petition, filed June 11. The case, now styled BMG Rights Management v. Vetter, has drawn broad industry attention: the MPA, RIAA, and NMPA had warned the Fifth Circuit that worldwide recapture would upend decades of settled licensing practice, while creator organizations including SAG-AFTRA and the Authors Guild sided with Vetter. Whether the Court will grant cert remains the central uncertainty; as the songwriter's own lawyers had noted before the Fifth Circuit even ruled, the cross-border question will likely need Supreme Court resolution to be definitively settled.