Several of late singer Ray Charles’ children have won their legal battle to reclaim the copyrights on 60 of the entertainer’s most famous songs. A lawsuit filed by the Ray Charles Foundation attempted to block his children’s’ right to ownership.
In 1976, a revision to the Copyright Act gave authors the ability to reclaim their works assigned to publishers after a certain period of time. However, works "made for hire" cannot be reclaimed. If an author is deceased, then the heirs of the estate are allowed to recover works.
In 2010, seven of Charles’ twelve children filed termination to reclaim ownership of the 60 compositions from Warner/Chappell Music. Warner/Chappell did not challenge the validity of the termination notices. The Ray Charles Foundation did, however, because it reaps royalties from the copyrighted music.
According to a report in Variety, the judge would not rule on whether or not the songs were “made for hire” but instead wrote that "because the foundation is not a grantee of the rights to be terminated or its successor, Congress did not even require the statutory heirs provide it with statutory notice of the termination, let alone give it a seat at the table during the termination process."
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