Rap Legend Uncle Luke Triumphs in Miami Court

Members of 2 Live crew have won a jury verdict allowing the hip hop legends to regain legal control of much of their catalog from a small record label that owned their copyrights for decades.

After years of litigation, a jury says the hip hop group can use copyright’s “termination right” to win back five albums from a label that bought them out of bankruptcy.

A Florida federal jury said on Wednesday that Uncle Luke (Luther Campbell) and the heirs of Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won) and Brother Marquis (Mark Ross) were entitled to invoke copyright law’s “termination right” – a provision that allows creators to take back their works decades after they sold them away to a company.

Attorneys for Lil Joe Records, which bought the band’s catalog out of bankruptcy in 1990s, argued that termination didn’t apply to 2 Live Crew’s albums. Lawyers for Campbell and his late bandmates argued back that the right to terminate was “inalienable”and couldn’t be forfeited.

During the trial, which lasted about a week and a half, attorneys for Lil Joe records argued that 2 Live Crew created the songs at issue while employees of their record label, and that the tracks were therefore “work made for hire” ineligible for copyright termination. Campbell testified earlier this week that payments to the group were per diems and advances, not wages, and that the members retained a share of profits from album sales, live performances, and merchandise – arrangements inconsistent with a typical label – employee relationship.

During the case, the label argued that the bankruptcy sale, which had been signed by a judge, made clear that the album rights were “free and clear of any and all liens” or other caveats.

The jury agreed, finding that the group did not record the songs as work made for hire. This verdict allows 2 Live Crew to reclaim rights to much of its iconic catalog, including hits like “Me So Horny ” and “Get It Girl.” Earlier in the case, the court ruled on summary judgement that termination rights survive bankruptcy, an issue of first impression for U.S. Courts.