Bit Parts

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida affirmed a bankruptcy court's ruling that Bambi Herrera-Edwards — widow of Chic music group co-founder Bernard Edwards — was barred by a probate settlement from obtaining administration rights to her late husband's musical composition. Herrera-Edwards v. Bernard Edwards Co., 8:17-cv-328-T-36 (2017). The 1997 settlement had been entered into among Herrera-Edwards, Bernard's children, his previous wife and the estate executor, who had been Bernard's business manager. A co-publishing agreement Herrera-Edwards signed as part of the probate settlement stated that “the executor of the estate will act as publisher of the copyrights and will have full and complete administration rights therein.” As for Herrera-Edwards Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, the district court confirmed on the publishing administration rights issue that “the principle that [executory] rejection [through bankruptcy of the unperformed portions of an agreement] may not be used to 'change the substantive rights of the parties to the contract.” In addition, the district court noted about Bernard's artist and producer royalties, which Herrera-Edwards claimed a share of: “As the bankruptcy court accurately observed, the Settlement Agreement does not give Edwards any royalty income; it only gives her a share of the copyright income. The bankruptcy court concluded that 'copyright' is a 'well-understood term' that does not include income from sources other than the compositions themselves.”