English High Court Issues Substantial Ruling Regarding Section 203 Termination of U.S. Copyright Grants Made Under English Law

English High Court Issues Substantial Ruling Regarding Section 203 Termination of U.S. Copyright Grants Made Under English Law

December 6, 2016, Covington Alert

On December 2, 2016, the English High Court ruled that the members of the band Duran Duran would be in breach of the contracts under which they assigned their publishing copyrights if they exercised their U.S. statutory right to terminate the transfer of the U.S. copyrights under section 203 of the Copyright Act. The case, Gloucester Place Music Limited v Simon Le Bon & Others [2016] EWHC 3091 (Ch), has potentially significant ramifications for post-1977 U.S. copyrights assigned under instruments governed by foreign law.