Supreme Court Denial Leaves Fifth Circuit Copyright Termination Ruling Standing
Four justices sat out BMG Rights Management v. Vetter, so the Supreme Court could not grant review and the Fifth Circuit's January 2026 ruling stands. Inside that circuit, a valid termination now reaches foreign licensing deals.
Four justices took no part in the music industry's Supreme Court appeal, so the Court could not grant review and the Fifth Circuit's ruling stands. Publishers and labels now face termination notices that reach their foreign licensing deals inside that circuit.
What the Court Did
The denial came on Oct. 21, 2026, in BMG Rights Management LLC v. Vetter, No. 25-1391. Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Barrett and Jackson did not participate, according to the docket, leaving too few justices to take the case. Justice Alito also sat out a related matter. The result affirms the Fifth Circuit's January 2026 decision.
How the Rule Reaches Foreign Licensing
The dispute centers on "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)," written by Cyril Vetter and Donald Smith in 1962. Vetter sent a termination notice in 2019 effective 2022. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick ruled for him in 2025, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed in January 2026.
The mechanism is what makes this more than a bookkeeping entry. U.S. copyright law lets authors or their heirs terminate a grant decades after transfer, as long as the work wasn't made for hire. The Fifth Circuit held that a valid termination also ends the grantee's rights to exploit the work abroad, so it unwinds the foreign licensing deals publishers built on those catalogs rather than just stopping U.S. royalties.
The parties read the statute differently. Publishers argued it stops at the border; Vetter's side read it as following the author's rights wherever the work is used. An unsigned denial resolves nothing outside the Fifth Circuit.
BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music and Resnik Music Group are among the companies affected. How much revenue sits in any single catalog isn't established here, and the practical reach of one termination depends on the terms of that grant. The works at issue are pre-1978, meaning their grants passed the statutory termination window. Universal, Sony and Warner bought a disputed stake in the song in March 2026, according to reporting by MBW.
What Comes Next
The circuits haven't settled this uniformly. Nothing in the denial requires other appeals courts to follow the Fifth Circuit, so the answer depends on where future cases land. Petitioners cited the potential for more disputes over how termination applies overseas.
For the companies, the operative fact is that existing international licenses may not survive a valid termination. Renegotiation is one path; exiting a deal is another. The trial and appellate rulings are binding inside the Fifth Circuit, not nationwide.
The denial also leaves open whether the same reasoning covers works whose grants fall outside the pre-1978 termination window, and whether foreign courts will treat a U.S. termination as cutting off rights under their own law. Those questions sit with trial courts.
The Bottom Line
Termination reaching foreign exploitation is settled law in the Fifth Circuit. Whether any other circuit adopts it, and whether courts abroad enforce it, remains undecided.
Comments ()