Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell has much to celebrate after regaining 2 Live Crew’s music rights in a lawsuit.
According to Music Business Worldwide, a Florida federal court ruled that 2 Live Crew (Christopher Wong Won and Mark Ross) and their heirs now own master copyrights on their music. The plaintiffs made a valid claim under a US copyright provision that allows the creators of works to take back their copyrights.
Taking to social media, Campbell expressed his gratitude for the legal victory in front of the Dade County Federal Courthouse.
“All of our albums, we won, we got all our s**t back from Lil Joe Weinberger,” Campbell said on X (Formerly Twitter). “God is so good, you just gotta believe in him.”
In 1996, Lil’ Joe Records, owned by Joseph Weinberger, purchased 2 Live Crew’s copyrights for $800,000 following Campbell’s label, Luke Records, filing for bankruptcy. Lil’ Joe Records has been collecting royalties on 2 Live Crew’s music ever since.
Before Weinberger owned the copyrights, the group claimed they sold their music rights to Luke Records which was disputed in court.
In 2020, Campbell, Mark Ross, and the heirs of the late Christopher Wong Won sent a “notice of termination.” The letter notified Lil Joe Records that they would be regaining ownership of 2 Live Crew’s first three albums. The albums are The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are, Move Somethin’, and As Nasty As They Wanna Be.
According to the suit, the dates 2022, 2023, and 2024, which is the 35th anniversary of each album.
Although 2 Live Crew won the suit, the legal battle may be taking another turn. On Thursday (October 17), attorneys for Lil Joe Records filed a “motion for judgment” requesting a judge to overturn the verdict.
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