Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan has won a judgment in the lawsuit filed by the estate of his late songwriting partner Jacques Levy in January, which had claimed ownership over 35 per cent of the songs Levy and Dylan wrote together on the ‘Desire’ album.
Pitchfork reports that Judge Barry Ostrager of New York’s Supreme Court has now ruled that the agreement signed between Dylan and Levy in 1975 made it clear Levy did not have ownership of the material.
According to Variety, on Friday, Dylan’s attorney, Orin Snyder, said in a statement, “We’re pleased with today’s decision. As we said when the case was filed, this lawsuit was a sad attempt to profit off the recent catalog sale. We’re glad it’s now over.”
Jacques, who died in 2004, co-wrote seven of the nine songs on Dylan’s 1976 album “Desire,” and his widow claimed in her $7.25 million lawsuit that her husband’s estate was owed 35 percent “of the purchase price” Dylan got from buyer Universal Music Group for the seven songs.
Variety reports that Dylan sold the music publishing rights of his entire songwriting catalog to Universal Music Publishing in December 2020, reportedly for more than $300 million. Levy’s widow Claudia then filed the lawsuit the next month, asserting that the estate was entitled to a portion of Dylan’s profits from the sale of the 10 songs in the catalog Jacques Levy helped write. Claudia Levy had claimed ownership over 35 percent of the songs they wrote together.
Judge Barry Ostrager of the Supreme Court of New York agreed with Dylan and UMG’s lawyers that the agreement drafted between Dylan and Levy in 1975 made it clear that he was not a participant in ownership of the material, and that his profit participation would consist of a share of songwriting royalties.
The court noted that Levy’s estate has continued to receive royalties from the co-written songs, before and after Dylan’s catalog sale, set at 35%, with no ownership conferred.
“For the reasons explained here, the Court determines that the plain meaning of the 1975 Agreement is that the Dylan Defendants owned all copyrights to the Compositions, as well as the absolute right to sell the Compositions and all associated rights, subject only to plaintiffs’ right to receive the compensation specified in the 1975 Agreement, which does not include any portion of the proceeds from Dylan’s sale of his own rights to the Universal Defendants,” the judge reportedly wrote.
Barry Ostrager pays attention to how Levy attempted to establish joint authorship in the compositions, including witnesses to the relationship between the songwriters and affidavits from experts, but ultimately the judge sees the contract as unambiguous and precluding such a claim.
The judge also rejects the claim that Levy’s estate is a third-party beneficiary of the Universal agreement.
Dylan was represented by Orin Snyder at Gibson Dunn.
(With inputs from agencies)
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