2 Live Crew Wins Back Copyright Control in Momentous ‘Termination Right’ Verdict

Photo Credit: 2 Live Crew for Luke Records

A jury ruled that 2 Live Crew can use copyright’s ‘termination right’ to win back their music from a label that bought them out of bankruptcy.Classic hip-hop group 2 Live Crew have won a jury verdict allowing them to regain legal control of the majority of their catalog from a small record label that has owned their copyrights for decades. On Wednesday, a federal jury in Florida that members of the group and their heirs were entitled to invoke copyright law’s “termination rights,” which allows creators to take back their works decades after they were sold to another company.

Attorneys for Lil Joe Records, which bought the band’s catalog out of bankruptcy back in 1996, insisted that termination shouldn’t apply to 2 Live Crew’s albums, arguing the catalog was “work for hire,” meaning no copyright was assigned in the first place. But 2 Live Crew’s attorneys countered that the right to terminate was “inalienable” and couldn’t be forfeited, with which the jury agreed.

Termination rights enable the original owner of a copyright to regain their rights after a set period of time, usually after 35 years.

As a result of the jury’s verdict, 2 Live Crew’s Uncle Luke (Luther Campbell) and the heirs of Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won) and Brother Marquis (Mark Ross) are entitled to invoke copyright law’s termination right to regain lawful control of their five albums. This includes their risque 1989 album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be.“Our team has fought this battle for nearly four years and we are thankful to have had the opportunity to present our case to the jury and see justice served,” said 2 Live Crew’s attorney Scott Alan Burroughs in a statement to Billboard. “The verdict was a total and overwhelming victory for our clients and artists everywhere.”

Lead counsel for Lil Joe Records, Richard Wolfe, as well as the label’s owner, Joe Weinberger, vowed to appeal the verdict, saying it introduced “novel legal questions about the interplay between termination rights and federal bankruptcy law.”

“Since this is a matter of first impression — which has never before been heard by any court — it may go to the Supreme Court,” said Wolfe. “The bankruptcy code is clear that all assets of a bankruptcy party are part of the bankruptcy estate. All means all.”

2 Live Crew’s case first kicked off in late 2020, when they notified Lil Joe they planned to invoke termination and take back ownership of their music. The two sides could not reach an agreement, leading to Lil Joe suing the group in federal court.