Clause & Effect

Music-Publishing Agreements/ Copyright Renewal Terms. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided that singer/songwriter Roger Miller gave his music publisher the renewal rights to his 1958-1963 songs. Roger Miller Music Inc. v. Sony/ATV Publishing LLC, 05-6824. Miller, who died in 1992, had signed agreements with Sony's predecessor-in-interest Tree Publishing which required Miller and Tree to execute a separate exhibit for each song that Miller delivered to the publisher. The appeals court noted: 'Because the publishing agreements made no reference to the renewal copyrights and the Exhibit A agreements were never executed, Appellants [Roger Miller Music and widow Mary Arnold Miller] contend that Sony could not have received the renewal copyrights for Miller's 1958-1963 songs.' But the exhibit agreement stated Miller authorized the publisher to 'renew' his copyrights, which the appeals court found demonstrated 'the intent to convey the renewal interest; this is particularly true because even more generic terms, such as 'forever' and 'hereafter,' have sufficed to convey an interest in the renewal copyrights.' And though a subsequent 1969 contract in which Miller and Tree agreed to waive the Exhibit A signing requirement 'specifically mentions only the royalty provisions of the Exhibit A agreement,' the court concluded that 'nothing in the parties' course of dealing shows that the parties did not intend to be bound by all the provisions of the Exhibit A agreement.'