By Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone | A federal judge has sided with Cher yet again, issuing a final judgment in the singer’s four-year royalties war with Sonny Bono’s widow that grants Cher almost everything she sought, including potentially substantial legal costs. Mary Bono, the head of her late husband’s estate, plans to appeal, her lawyer tells Rolling Stone.
In his final judgment signed Nov. 26, U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt formally lodged his prior ruling that found Mary was barred from using the federal Copyright Act to reclaim the 50 percent share of Sonny’s composition royalties granted to Cher in her 1978 divorce agreement with Sonny. Mary had tried to terminate those rights – for hit songs including “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On” – along with Cher’s 50 percent share of the musical recordings she made with Sonny. The judge said California contract law, which governed the divorce agreement, trumped the copyright termination power of the federal Copyright Act.
The judge then moved into new territory, holding that Cher retains her right to have her composition and record royalties paid directly to her, even though she sold the rights to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group in 2022. . . .
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Make sure you get your “Rights” in order or your spouse may face this same problem!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/cher-scores-near-complete-victory-in-royalties-war-mary-bono-vows-appeal/ar-AA1RArVp?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=692f878a51d74d51b7dd571937eeed0c&ei=19