The Discography

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Battle Over "Hound Dog" Rights

Highest Court

S.D. New York

Year Ended

1957

Plaintiffs

Music Publisher(s)
Otis, Johnny

Defendants

Leiber & Stoller
Music Publisher(s)

Other

Presley, Elvis

Short Description

Johnny Otis was a band leader, producer, and--relevant here--the owner of a music publishing company, which is the Plaintiff in this suit. Otis arranged for a recording of the R & B classic, "Hound Dog, " wtitten by in infamous Jewish songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, performed by Big Mama Thornton, and released by Peacock Records. This version was published through Spin Music, in which Otis had an interest. By arranging the session, Otis said he was granted a 1/3 interest in royalties the song, which was relatively standard practice at the time. However, he also incorrectly included himself as a "co-author," also relatively standard at the time, and represented himself as such in dealings with a third-party publisher, Lion Music. When Lion noticed that the three signatures on the contract matched Otis's, Lion inquired of Leiber & Stoller, and were told Otis was in fact not a co-author, but merely owed 1/3 of the royalties received by Spin Music. An agreement was reached in which Otis admitted as much and received $750 in release of all claims he may have regarding the song. Lion licensed the song to Elvis Presley's publisher for his well-known iteration, which was released crediting only Leiber & Stoller as this song's authors. The version was obviously very successful, and Otis's publishing company sued, alleging Otis co-authored of the song and thus Plaintiff was owed royalties. The court, based on the facts of the song's composition and the signed release, refused Otis's claim, and the credit and royalties went to Leiber & Stoller. - LSW

Legal Issues

Copyrights	Ownership	Assignments, Licenses & Renewal Rights
		Declaratory Judgment
		Joint Authorship, Works-for-Hire & Derivative Creations

Opinions

Valjo Music Pub. Corp. v. Elvis Presley Music, Inc.
156 F. Supp. 568
S.D. New York , December 04, 1957 ( _ )

Errors

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