Former Beatle Paul McCartney sued Sony Corp.'s music publishing arm on Wednesday in a federal court in New York, seeking to get back the copyrights to music of his former band, court records show.
Starting in October 2008, McCartney sent notices to Sony/ATV Music Publishing stating his desire to reclaim the copyrights to numerous songs, including the Beatles hits "Across the Universe," "Love Me Do," and "I Want to Hold Your Hand," the suit said.
Sony/ATV currently holds the copyrights to the works, which were jointly composed by McCartney and John Lennon between September 1962 and June 1971. The suit said the singer-songwriter would be able to begin to reclaim his rights to the music as of next October under the U.S. Copyright Act.