US Supreme Court leaves the Vetter ruling in place: termination can take back song rights worldwide
On 19 October 2026 the US Supreme Court declined to review BMG Rights Management v. Vetter after four justices took no part, leaving the court without a quorum. The Fifth Circuit's January 2026 ruling therefore stands: when an author terminates a grant made under US law, the recaptured rights can cover the whole world, not only the United States.
A case about a 1960s pop song has just become a live issue for anyone who signed a publishing or recording deal under US law. On 19 October the US Supreme Court said it could not hear BMG Rights Management (US) LLC v. Vetter because four justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson, took no part in the decision. Without the six justices needed for a quorum, the lower court ruling stands.
The case was brought by songwriter Cyril Vetter, co writer of Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love), who used US termination rights to take back his share of the song. The question was how far that recapture reaches. In January 2026 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the district court that when the original grant was made under US law, a valid termination returns the rights worldwide, not only inside the United States. The petition to the Supreme Court came from BMG together with three other major music companies, according to Music Ally.
The court gave no reason for the recusals. CMU and other outlets pointed out that BMG's parent company Bertelsmann also owns Penguin Random House, which has published books by the four justices concerned. Either way, the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits, and that limits how far the outcome travels. The Fifth Circuit decision binds federal courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Courts in other circuits, including those covering New York and Los Angeles, are not bound to follow it, so the issue could return to the Supreme Court in a future case.
For electronic music the timing matters. US termination rights let authors end grants made from 1978 onwards after 35 years, with notice served in advance. Deals signed in the formative years of Chicago house, Detroit techno and early rave are now inside or approaching that window. Until now, many publishers and labels assumed that even a successful termination left them holding the rights outside the US, which is where much of dance music's income is earned. The Vetter ruling makes that assumption much harder to rely on, at least in the Fifth Circuit.
European writers and producers should not assume this applies to them automatically. Termination is a US statute, it covers grants by authors rather than works made for hire, and whether a deal arose under US law depends on its terms and governing law. But anyone who signed to a US publisher or label decades ago should have a lawyer check whether a termination window is open, and buyers of older catalogues will now price that risk in.