Judge Sides With Cher In Tentative Ruling That Could End $1 Million Royalties War With Mary Bono

Is Cher's $1 million royalty claim against Mary Bono strong enough? A judge seems to think so.

In a hearing Monday, a federal judge said he believes Cher is entitled to continued songwriting rights to songs like “I Got U Babe” and “The Beat Goes On,” as outlined in her 1978 divorce settlement with Sonny Bono – notwithstanding Sonny's heirs exercising their right to recover his underlying copyright under federal copyright law.

In his tentative ruling issued by the bench, US District Judge John Kronstadt said he believed the marital settlement agreement (MSA) gave Cher a specific cut of incoming revenue — as opposed to a copyright grant — so her claim was protected by government contract law and is not subject to the rules of termination of an intellectual property right. He said the distinction answers the “key question” of the case, and he was leaning toward ruling in Cher's favor.

“The plain language of the MSA provides a right to the proceeds of the musical compositions and interests, not the underlying copyright,” he said in the federal courtroom in downtown Los Angeles. “I don't think the notice of termination can affect (Cher's) notice of contractual rights under the MSA.”

Judge Kronstadt also said he was unconvinced by Mary Bono's arguments that Cher's lawsuit should be dismissed because she never named Sonny's other heirs — his four children, including Cher's son Chaz Bono — as defendants, even though the case also affects their entitlement payments. “I believe (Mary Bono's) interests are sufficiently aligned with those of Sonny's children that she can adequately represent them and there is evidence that (they) are aware of this lawsuit, but no objection or attempt to intervene,” said judge.

Judge Kronstadt further stated that he disagreed with Bono's contention that Cher lacked “standing” in the case and should not be allowed to sue for selling her share of the rights to the Sonny Bono composition when she sold much of her catalog to Iconic Artists Group by Irving Azoff. in 2022. “The situation is assessed at the time of the filing, and at the time of the filing (in 2021), there was standing,” the judge said Monday. He said Cher also has standing because any potential change in her right to royalties would affect her deal with Iconic, as she “obviously received compensation in return for granting rights to those funds.”

But Judge Kronstadt appeared ready to side with Bono in agreeing with her that MSA granted Sonny's heirs the “sole” right to name nominees to manage the copyright to his composition and receive up to 10 percent management fee. That's important to Mary Bono, her lawyers said, because she believes Iconic wants to handle management themselves, “in-house.”

“They have no interest in appointing anyone,” Bono's attorney, Daniel Schacht, told the court Monday. He said Bono was concerned that Iconic would “force” the heirs back into litigation over the appointment of an administrator.

With the judge's tentative ruling leaning heavily in Cher's favor, Schacht spent the final part of his argument Monday on a potential settlement offer. He said that if the court upholds its interim ruling and decides that Cher has a continuing right to the composition rights, she should be limited to the same 50% artist share that she and Sonny split when they signed their deal. Mary Bono's lawyers calculated this as 36 cents for every dollar of royalties. Schacht argued that any “publisher's share” recovered by the heirs through the termination of Sonny's agreements should go only to the heirs. He said if anyone should receive a “windfall” from copyright law terminations, it should be the heirs of artists, not a music label to which an ex-husband sold his rights. “With this middle ground we proposed, where the publisher's share goes back only to Mary and Sonny's children, Cher would continue to get what they bargained for, while the windfall would go to the intended heirs,” he said.

Cher's lawyer, Peter J. Anderson, scoffed at the idea. “This is not a negotiation. The law is clear. The statute says that the termination does not affect state rights in any way, and the MSA says that Cher is entitled to 50 percent of (composition) royalties from all sources, not excluding publishing sources,” Anderson said.

The star's lawyer claimed that by the time Sonny and Cher signed their divorce settlement in August 1978, they were “sophisticated people” represented by “sophisticated lawyers”. They also knew two things by that time: “That these songs had actually been released and 'I Got U Babe' and 'Bang Bang' were big hits. They knew this. They also knew that the Copyright Act 1976 was in force and that on 1 January 1978 he had a right of termination. So when they said Cher gets 50 percent of all royalties from all sources, that includes the replacement publishing deals when they terminate the original publishing deals. These songs were already tested by the market. These sophisticated people already knew about termination rights.”

Judge Kronstadt did not immediately adopt his temporary ruling on Monday. It is expected to issue its official decision in the coming weeks. In the meantime, he suggested the sides try to mediate one more time to reach a possible settlement. If the judge adopts his interim ruling as reported, the remaining dispute over the exact royalties owed to Cher for the period before her sale to Iconic could lead to a lawsuit, but most of the money is in an escrow account , so it is possible that the parties would come to an agreement.

Cher, 77, is a Grammy, Oscar and Emmy winner who began performing with Sonny Bono in 1964 and appeared with him on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour before moving on to a solo singing career and film review roles Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwickand Moonstruck.

She and Sonny married in 1967, had a child together, and divorced in 1974. Sonny, who composed his biggest hits including “I Got U Babe” before his marriage to Cher, died in 1998 after a skiing accident, leaving his widow Mary in control of his estate. When Sonny's copyright grants became eligible for termination in 2018, Mary decided to invoke the right.

Mary Bono, who was elected to replace Sonny in Congress after his death, served as a Republican U.S. representative for Palm Springs, Southern California from 1998 to 2013. She previously tried, but failed, to convince the court that federal copyright law trumped any state convention or community property laws invoked by Cher.