Duran Duran lose copyright battle in English High Court

UK pop band Duran Duran have lost a copyright dispute at the English High Court.

Mr Justice Arnold announced his ruling on Friday, December 2.

Gloucester Place Music, which is owned by US company Sony/ATV publishing, brought a breach of agreements case against the band.

Sony/ATV publishing is owned by EMI Publishing.

In 2014, Duran Duran served a series of notices under section 203 of the US Copyright Act because they wanted to stop the assignment of the US copyright for 37 songs that were written by the band.

Duran Duran had earlier entered into a music publishing agreement, in 1980, with Gloucester Place. The agreement contained a worldwide assignment of copyright works written during the term of the agreement in return for payment and royalties.

The initial term of the agreement was one year, with a provision for extensions through a series of one year “option periods”. The band members entered into two optional agreements, which extended the agreement to 1983.

These agreements, according to the ruling, were taken so that each band member could provide song writing services to companies in the UK and abroad.

In 1993, Gloucester Place and the band signed an agreement for the sale, transfer and assignment of part of Gloucester Place’s interest in the compositions.

During the term of the agreements, the band members wrote 37 songs, including “Rio”, “Hungry Like a Wolf” and “Is There Something I Should Know?”.

Arnold said that the dispute in this case arose because the music publishing agreements did not explicitly address the issue in question, which is the right to terminate the contract under section 203.

Gloucester Place argued that Duran Duran had assigned their US copyright for the full term of the copyright, and because the band did not “express [any] reservation” about the right of termination, the right was precluded.

The band argued that the US copyright could be terminated and in the absence of “express prohibition”, they were “free to do so”.

In his ruling, Arnold ruled in favour of Gloucester Place, stating that its “interpretation of the agreements is the correct one”.

“I consider that what the language would have conveyed to a reasonable person having the relevant background knowledge was that the parties’ intention was that the ‘entire copyrights’ in the compositions should vest, and remain vested, in the claimant for the ‘full term’ of the copyrights,” Arnold said.

He added that, “in effect, what the group members have done by exercising their rights of termination is to transfer the reversionary interest in the copyrights from the claimant to themselves”.

Robert Lundie Smith, partner at intellectual property law firm EIP, said: “The dispute was not about whether English law could override that of a US statutory right.”

In essence, the question for the court was whether the “right to terminate the agreement under US law had been retained by the band under the agreement (which is governed by English law) or not”.

Smith claimed it was perhaps a fine distinction, but “an important distinction nonetheless”.

Duran Duran had hits such as “Wild Boys” and “Girls on Film”. Simon Le Bon is the lead vocalist, John Taylor plays the bass guitar, with Nick Rhodes on keyboard and Dom Brown on guitar.

A spokesperson for Sony/ATV publishing told WIPR: “We are gratified by the court’s decision to interpret this matter in the way we believe is consistent with the intention of the contracts when they were entered into."

They added that EMI has nothing but the "highest respect and admiration" for Duran Duran and "their great songs".

"This has not been about seeking to challenge the US laws on copyright terminations but simply a contractual issue in the jurisdiction of the UK courts to clarify the parties’ rights on various songs,” they said.

In a statement issued on Duran Duran's website, Rhodes said: “We signed a publishing agreement as unsuspecting teenagers, over three decades ago, when just starting out and when we knew no better. Today, we are told that language in that agreement allows our long-time publishers, SonyATV, to override our statutory rights under US law."

He added that the judgment gives publishing companies "carte blanche to take advantage" of songwriters "who built their fortune over many years", and "strips songwriters of their right to rebalance this reward".

"We are shocked that English contract law is being used to overturn artists’ rights in another territory. If left untested, this judgment sets a very bad precedent for all songwriters of our era and so we are deciding how properly to proceed," said Rhodes.

LeBon said: “SonyATV’s conduct has left a bitter taste with us for sure, and I know that other artists in similar positions will be as outraged and saddened as we are. We are hopeful this judgment will not be allowed to stand."