Hollywood Docket: Heirs of Orson Welles, Conway Twitty Seek to Enforce Rights

Posted by Matthew Heller

Case: Welles v. Turner Entertainment, Case No. 08-CV-01399 (USDC, C. Calif.), filed Feb. 28

Claims: Profit participation, negotiated royalty

Allegations: As part of a March 2005 agreement resolving a copyright dispute, Orson Welles' daughter Beatrice Welles was granted participation in the profits from distribution of "Citizen Kane" and a reasonable royalty on home video sales. While Turner's subsequent payment of $307,126 has satisfied its obligation to pay profit participation for non-home video distribution, it "has failed and refused to pay Plaintiff her 20% share of the profits from home video distribution" collected between January 1, 1990 and June 30, 2007. Welles also "has been damaged by Defendant's failure to pay her a reasonable copyright royalty."

Filing attorney: Steven Ames Brown, San Francisco

Case: Riels v. Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Case No. 08-474 (Davidson County, Tenn., Chancery Ct.), filed Feb. 27

Claims: Contract rescission, promissory estoppel

Allegations: Country music legend Conway Twitty sold copyrights to his songs to Tree Publishing in 1990. As part of the deal, he had his four children assign their contingent copyright renewal interests in more than 80 songs to Tree for $1. In March 2007, the children first became aware that Copyright Office records list Sony/ATV, the successor in interest of Tree, as the claimant for all copyrights that entered the renewal period after Twitty's death in 1993. The assignments of the renewal interests, however, should be rescinded "for grossly inadequate consideration." Sony also broke its promise to renew the copyrights in the children's name.

Filing attorney: Philip Lyon, Lyon & Phillips, Nashville