Cher and Sonny Bono were married from 1967 – 1975, and upon their divorce, they agreed to split the royalties from their songs 50/50. This agreement included their shared hit songs “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” But recently, Bono’s widow, Mary, acting through the Bono Collection Trust, “told Cher she would be cut off from royalties to Sonny & Cher hits.” Cher fired back with a federal lawsuit claiming damages of at least $1 million.
Mary Bono’s attorney said, “The Copyright Act allows Sonny’s widow and children to reclaim Sonny’s copyrights from publishers, which is what they did.” Cher’s lawyers say that regardless of the family terminated copyrights with publishers, they “did not terminate, and could not have terminated” Bono’s agreements with Cher.
– Excerpt from an article for Deadline by Bruce Haring. Read the full article here.
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