Almost sixty years after the Everly Brothers recorded Cathy’s Clown, the authorship of the song is being disputed by Brother Don and the heirs of the late Brother Phil. In a recent decision, the Sixth Circuit revived the case. It found that Don’s 2011 copyright termination notice, in which he claimed to be the sole author, did not constitute a “plain and express repudiation” of authorship, and hence did not clearly trigger the statute of limitations barring his suit. A jury will therefore have to “sort it all out.” Please see Corey McGehee’s blog post for details and discussion of this fascinating dispute about the Everly Brothers’ iconic hit single.
