Warner Music, rock band Jesus and Mary Chain end US copyright lawsuit
FILE PHOTO: The Jesus and Mary Chain perform at Roskilde Festival 2017 in Roskilde, Denmark June 30, 2017. Scanpix Denmark/Ida Guldbaek Arentsen via REUTERS
Warner Music Group Corp and Scottish rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain have agreed to end a lawsuit over the band’s attempt to terminate the music label’s rights in its music, according court papers filed Thursday.
The parties said in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that they had agreed to dismiss the band’s lawsuit with prejudice, which means it cannot be filed again.
A lawyer for the band, Neema Amini, said the dispute had been “amicably resolved,” but did not provide details of the settlement. Representatives for Warner Music did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The influential alternative rock band filed its lawsuit in 2021. Its founding members Jim and William Reid accused Warner Music of refusing to acknowledge their notice to the label that they were reclaiming their copyrights in their landmark 1985 debut album “Psychocandy” and other recordings.
U.S. copyright law allows creators to terminate transfers of their work after 35 years under certain circumstances. The law has been the subject of lawsuits by and against a variety of musicians, screenwriters and other artists.
The band signed to WEA Records Ltd, a Warner Music predecessor, in 1985. According to the lawsuit, Warner Music told them that WEA was the original owner of the works, not the band, and that the Reids could not terminate the copyrights.
Warner Music also told the court that the band’s lawsuit was time-barred and that it had breached its contract with WEA.
A trial in the case was set to begin in September.
The case is Reid v. Warner Music Group Corp, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:21-cv-04806.
