Sir Paul McCartney, a member of famous English rock band, The Beatles, has filed a lawsuit against Sony Music for the control of 267 recorded songs by them.
BBC reports that The Beatles signed away their publishing rights at the start of their career, on the advice of their manager, Brian Epstein.
McCartney has been trying to regain publishing rights of the songs since the 1980s but lost to Micheal Jackson, the late pop-star who outbid him for the rights.
Jackson’s estate sold the songs to Sony in 2016.
The case, which was filed in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, is known as copyright termination – the right of authors to reclaim ownership of their works from music publishers after a specific length of time has passed.
It was part of the U.S. 1976 Copyright act and artists like Prince, Billy Joel, and Blondie have used it to regain control of their work.
In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Sony/ATV said it was disappointed and referred to the lawsuit as “unnecessary and premature”.
“We have the highest respect for Sir Paul McCartney with whom we have enjoyed a long and mutually rewarding relationship with respect to the treasured Lennon and McCartney song catalogue.
“We have collaborated closely with both Sir Paul and the late John Lennon’s Estate for decades to protect, preserve and promote the catalogue’s long-term value.”
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