Sony/ATV Publishing LLC
In December 2004, RMMI brought suit against Sony for copyright infringement, seeking damages and a declaration that RMMI was the owner of the renewal copyrights to the songs Miller composed between 1958 and 1964. At this stage in the litigation, Sony did not contend that it owned the renewal copyrights to the 1964 songs or dispute RMMI's contention that ownership vested in RMMI due to Miller's death prior to the start of the renewal term. The district court granted Sony's motion for judgment on the pleadings, holding that Sony owned the renewal copyrights to the 1958-1963 songs and that it held an implied, non-exclusive license to exploit the 1964 songs based on RMMI's actions and inactions in accepting royalty payments without objection. Roger Miller Music, Inc. v. Sony/ATV Publishing, LLC, No. 04-1132, 2005 WL 5351103, at *1 (M.D. Tenn. July 11, 2005) (RMMI I). Sony subsequently filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e), arguing that it owned the renewal copyrights to the 1964 songs because it had applied to register them prior to Miller's death. The district court treated Sony's previous position regarding the 1964 songs as a binding judicial admission and refused to hear Sony's arguments on the issue.
Both parties appealed, and a previous panel of this court affirmed as to Sony's ownership of the copyrights to the 1958-1963 songs, but reversed the holding that Sony's previous statements regarding the 1964 songs constituted judicial admissions. Roger Miller Music, Inc. v. Sony/ATV Publishing, LLC, 477 F.3d 383, 391-95 (6th Cir. 2007) (RMMI II). We remanded for a determination of whether the district court should hear arguments on ownership of the renewal copyrights to the 1964 songs.
On remand, the district court concluded that Sony did not own the renewal copyrights, because Roger Miller had died prior to the vesting of the renewal rights and assignees were not included in the list of statutory successors, and the court thus denied Sony's Rule 59(e) motion. The court incorporated its previous decision that Sony held an implied license to exploit the 1964 songs, but nonetheless appointed a Special Master to conduct an accounting of the infringement damages owed to RMMI. Sony objected to the Special Master's report on the grounds that Sony's status as a licensee precluded any liability for infringement. In response, the district court reversed its prior holding
