The members of James Brown's family and the late singer's estate have finally settled lawsuit almost 15 years after the music legend’s death.
The settlement terms from July 9th have not been made public. However, Billboard has reported that several of Brown’s children and grandchildren are likely to divide the copyrights to Brown’s 900 compositions when they revert back to the late music icon’s control in the coming years under U.S. copyright law. That would then allow them to sell the songs to publishers and license them for commercials, movies and more.
The legal issues stemmed from Tommie Rae Hynie, who claimed to be Brown’s wife at the time of his death in 2006 (even though South Carolina courts later determined she was married to another man at the time of her marriage to Brown.).
Hynie tried to sell the upcoming publishing rights to five of Brown's biggest hits to Warner Chappell for $1.875-million, which resulted in Brown's daughters and other family members to suing.
The court battles also held up millions of dollars in scholarship money in South Carolina and Georgia.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]