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Vetter Gave Artists the World. Getting It Back May Be Harder Than It Sounds.
A Music Business Worldwide op-ed by Reed Smith LLP lawyers Nick Breen and Joshua Love examines the fallout from Vetter v. Resnik, a January 2026 Fifth Circuit ruling that a songwriter's US statutory termination can recapture worldwide, not just American, copyright rights. The authors argue that while the decision is a potentially transformative win for songwriters and their heirs, actually enforcing worldwide ownership abroad could prove far harder than winning the case, since foreign courts, collecting societies and subpublishers often treat copyright as fundamentally territorial and may not automatically follow a US court's ruling.
Major publishers have petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, in a case now called BMG Rights Management (US) LLC v. Vetter, warning it is "every bit as disruptive as it sounds." The RIAA, NMPA and A2IM say the effects are already being felt, with authors sending supplemental termination notices seeking foreign rights and extra compensation. The authors note that a songwriter could win a declaration of worldwide ownership in a US court yet spend years trying to get that recognised on royalty statements territory by territory, partly because the UK has no direct equivalent of the US statutory termination mechanism.
In short
- Fifth Circuit's Vetter ruling let US termination reclaim worldwide song rights
- Publishers have asked the Supreme Court to overturn the decision
- Enforcing worldwide rights abroad may prove slow and legally uncertain
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Songwriters argue that statutory termination rights were specifically designed to correct the power imbalance in creative contracts and should apply to the full extent of rights authors surrender. If a publisher can lock up worldwide copyright whilst a songwriter can recapture only American rights, the law becomes meaningless and leaves creators unable to truly control their own work globally. The statute's language contains no geographic limitation, and courts should honour it as written—otherwise, multinational rights-holders enjoy de facto permanent ownership whilst creators are systematically disadvantaged in the international market.
The case against
Publishers and the industry argue that copyright is fundamentally territorial under international law, with each country maintaining its own legal regime. A US court's declaration of worldwide termination cannot force foreign courts, subpublishers and collecting societies to recognise rights recapture under foreign law, creating practical chaos where songwriters win declarations they cannot enforce and licensing systems collapse under conflicting claims to the same rights. The termination statute was designed to address domestic contract imbalances, not to rewrite international copyright relationships, and applying it retroactively worldwide destabilises the licensing infrastructure on which songwriters ultimately depend for global royalty collection.
Explained simply
Copyright lets songwriters and publishers control how music is used and collect royalties. In the US, a statutory termination rule can let songwriters or their heirs end certain older copyright grants and reclaim rights after a set period. The rule is part of a wider system in which rights and royalties are often handled separately in each country.
Vetter v. Resnik concerned whether that US rule can return rights outside the United States as well as within it. The ruling said it could, giving songwriters and their heirs a possible route to reclaim worldwide rights. Music publishers have asked the US Supreme Court to review the decision.
Even if a US court recognises worldwide ownership, foreign courts, collecting societies and local publishers may not automatically change how they record rights or pay royalties. Each country has its own copyright arrangements, and the UK has no direct equivalent to the US termination rule.
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