Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
BMG Rights Management (US) LLC, et al. v. Cyril E. Vetter, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 25-30108 · judgment January 12, 2026
Before the decision, about 1.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Fifth Circuit decision below, and a business petitioner.
Question presented
Every creative success (music, movies, TV, books, and more) depends on two groups working together: the authors who create the work, and the publishers who make significant investments in marketing, promoting, and distributing it. For this collaboration to work, authors and publishers must enter durable agreements early in a work’s lifecycle, often before anyone (including the author) knows a work’s longterm value. If a work outperforms expectations— often due to publishers’ efforts and investment— authors sometimes want to renegotiate these deals. Countries have balanced authors’ and publishers’ interests in different ways. U.S. law previously used a two-term structure, with the initial copyright lasting 28 years, but authors (or their heirs) starting fresh with another 28-year renewal term. Congress later added a termination right: After an enumerated interval, and under certain circumstances, an author gets a five-year window to reclaim certain rights. Recognizing other countries have struck different balances, however, Congress caveated that “[t]ermination … affects only those rights covered by the grant that arise under this title, and in no way affects rights arising under any other Federal, State, or foreign laws.” 17 U.S.C. §304(c)(6)(E). Given that express instruction and the territorial nature of copyrights, until the decision below it was settled, literal hornbook law that statutory reversion provided by U.S. law extended only to U.S. copyrights. The question presented is: When copyright rights revert to authors or their heirs by operation of U.S. law, is the reversion limited
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Paul D. Clement
Clement & Murphy, PLLC
For respondent
E. Joshua Rosenkranz
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Case
Subject area
Economic Activity (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Amicus briefs
5 cert-stage
Linked docket
25A1109
Proceedings
- Oct 19 2026Because the Court lacks a quorum, 28 U. S. C. §1, and since the qualified Justices are of the opinion that the case cannot be heard and determined at the next Term of the Court, the judgment is affirmed under 28 U. S. C. §2109, which provides that under these circumstances "the court shall enter its order affirming the judgment of the court from which the case was brought for review with the same effect as upon affirmance by an equally divided court." Justice Sotomayor, Justice Gorsuch, Justice Barrett, and Justice Jackson took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
- Sep 30 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/16/2026.
- Sep 30 2026Reply of petitioners BMG Rights Management (US) LLC, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 14 2026Brief of respondents Cyril E. Vetter, et al. in opposition filed.
- Jul 16 2026Brief amicus curiae of Paramount Pictures Corporation filed.
- Jul 16 2026Brief amicus curiae of Motion Picture Association, Inc. filed.
- Jul 16 2026Brief amici curiae of Intellectual Property Law Professors filed.
- Jul 16 2026Brief amici curiae of Recording Industry Association of America, et al. filed.
- Jul 16 2026Brief amici curiae of International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, et al. filed.
- Jul 01 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 14, 2026.
- Jun 29 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 16, 2026 to September 14, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 11 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 16, 2026)
- May 06 2026Application (25A1109) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until June 11, 2026.
- Apr 30 2026Application (25A1109) to extend further the time from May 13, 2026 to June 11, 2026, submitted to Justice Alito.
- Apr 13 2026Application (25A1109) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until May 13, 2026.
- Apr 03 2026Application (25A1109) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from April 12, 2026 to May 13, 2026, submitted to Justice Alito.