Could Paul McCartney Retrieve Beatles Catalog?

Paul McCartney will eventually be able to start reclaiming the copyrights to the Beatles catalog, ABC News reports.

The 67-year-old former Beatle and John Lennon, the band's primary songwriters, lost control of the catalog as the band fell apart. They continued to receive songwriting royalties, but have missed out on lucrative licensing deals.

All but a few of Beatles copyrights eventually ended up with Michael Jackson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a 50-50 joint venture between the Jackson and Sony Corp.

The U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 gives songwriters the ability to recapture the publishing share of the copyright on songs written before 1978 after two consecutive 28-year terms, meaning that Beatles compositions registered in 1962 will be eligible for reversion in the U.S. in 2018.

Under a clause in the Copyright Act, the heirs of songwriters who die during the first term can regain the publisher's portion of copyrighted material at the end of that 28 years.

The publisher's portion of Lennon's share of the catalog for songs written in 1962 became eligible for reversion in 1990 and songs written in 1970 were eligible in 1998, but sources say that Sony/ATV cut a deal with Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow, to retain its publisher's share for the entire length of the copyright.

Before the catalog changes hands, Sony/ATV is exploiting its Beatles copyrights with a deal with MTV Networks to develop the upcoming "The Beatles: Rock Band" just one indication of this.