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

Photo Credit: 2 Live Crew for Luke Records

A jury had ruled that 2 Live Crew should benefit from a copyright ‘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 “termination rights,” which effectively allow 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 depending on the specific statute in play. The hotly-contested clause has been batted around for decades, and 2 Live Crew’s victory could spark similar actions by other artists.

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 the termination right to regain lawful control of their five albums. This includes their risque 1989 album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be.

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.”

“The bankruptcy code is clear that all assets of a bankruptcy party are part of the bankruptcy estate,” Wolf said. “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.