Sixth Circuit Revives Copyright Dispute Over Everly Brothers Song
CINCINNATI (CN) — The Sixth Circuit breathed new life into a contentious copyright dispute between Don Everly and the successors of his late brother, Phil Everly, over authorship of the duo’s 1960 hit, “Cathy’s Clown,” which went on to become their best-selling single.
A divided three-judge panel in the circuit court overturned a U.S. District judge’s decision that went in favor of the elder brother Don, and ordered the case remanded so it can proceed to trial in Tennessee.
The lawsuit was filed in 2017 by Don and sought a declaration that he was the sole author of the song. After the Phillip Everly Family Trust and Phil’s successors filed counterclaims for co-authorship credits, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger granted Don’s motion for summary judgment.
Trauger, an appointee of Bill Clinton, ruled that claims of Phil’s co-authorship were barred by the statute of limitations, which she said had been triggered no later than 2011.
Released in 1960 and performed on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” “Cathy’s Clown” originally listed both Don and Phil as co-authors but things changed when the brothers had a falling out in 1973. According to an article in Rolling Stone, Don was drunk at a Hollywood show and flubbed lyrics so many times that his brother Phil “smashed a guitar over his head and stormed out.”
https://www.courthousenews.com/sixth-circuit-revives-copyright-dispute-over-everly-brothers-song/
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