Lil’ Joe Records Wins Copyrights of 2 Live Crew Albums on Appeal

Lil’ Joe Records owns the copyrights to five 2 Live Crew albums because one of the rap group’s members didn’t possess his termination rights when they tried to reclaim the albums’ copyrights, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Tuesday.

Member Mark Ross’ termination interest—an author’s right, after a certain amount of time, to reclaim the copyright in a work despite having granted it to a third party—was held by his bankruptcy estate when he and two other 2 Live Crew rappers tried to take back the albums from the record label, according to the opinion. Because he couldn’t exercise the right ...