Preparing and filing terminations of copyright grants, often referred to as “recapture”, is the core of our business. We work with you to decide the extent – one song or an entire catalog – and where along the timeline your works are, whether currently in the window of opportunity to file or still a few years off, and take the necessary steps.
This means gathering considerable information such as single song agreements, exclusive term agreements, co-writer and co-publisher info, and copyright registrations. We turn to a variety of other sources, as well, including the U.S. Copyright Office, performing rights societies, and current and previous publishers of the works. Often during this process long-standing mistakes are found and corrected.
If the works now qualify, we do all of the necessary filing. You receive a copy of all filing documents for safekeeping.
We also prepare complete reports, such as year-by-year lists of when your songs qualify for filing, and the data that must be used. These final reports, in both printed and digital form, along with digital copies of your important documents, are essentially a file cabinet all within a binder. Included are:
- song title
- “aka” titles
- writer and co-writer information
- publishing and co-publishing information
- exclusive and single song agreements
- dates of the agreements
- IPI base and name numbers
- ISWC number
- society number
- copyright dates
- copyright numbers
- when the song will enter public domain (for older copyrights)
- window of termination dates
- window of termination notification dates
With the information compiled in your reports, you and future generations of your family will have a reference to the facts that are necessary to collect on these works through the years.
Our services are charged on an hourly basis, plus any direct expenses, i.e. postage or Copyright Office fees. Most clients will easily recoup our expense and a great deal more by the opportunities afforded them by these services. If you do not presently own any publishing on your songs, you particularly could see a significant increase in future income for many years.