四名大法官回避致人数不足 最高法院维持词曲作者全球版权收回判决
10月19日，美国最高法院在BMG Rights Management诉Vetter案中未能作出实体裁决：九名大法官中有四人未参与审理，其余五人不足联邦法规定的六人法定人数，遂依《美国法典》第28篇第2109条维持下级法院判决，该维持不构成全国性判例。未参与的四名大法官为Sonia Sotomayor、Neil Gorsuch、Amy Coney Barrett与Ketanji Brown Jackson，法院未说明理由；多家媒体指出，BMG母公司Bertelsmann旗下的Penguin Random House曾出版四人的著作。案件源于词曲作者Cyril Vetter与Donald Smith 1962年合写的摇滚歌曲《Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)》：两人1963年将全球版权转让给Windsong Music Publishers，Vetter于2019年援引版权法的终止转让条款主张收回，2022年5月生效。联邦第五巡回上诉法院今年1月12日裁定，版权法的终止权并无地域限制，Vetter收回全球版权。败诉方为Universal Music Group、Sony Music、Warner Music Group与BMG，该判决对路易斯安那州、密西西比州与德克萨斯州的联邦法院具有约束力。
Short-Handed Supreme Court Leaves Songwriter's Worldwide Copyright Victory Intact
The U.S. Supreme Court could not decide the case of BMG Rights Management v. Vetter on October 19: four of the nine justices did not participate, leaving five, short of the six-justice quorum federal law requires, so the court affirmed the lower court's judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 2109 without setting a national precedent. The four non-participating justices were Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson; the court gave no reason, and several outlets noted that Penguin Random House, part of BMG parent company Bertelsmann, has published books by all four. The dispute traces to the 1962 rock song "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)," co-written by Cyril Vetter and Donald Smith, who assigned its worldwide rights to Windsong Music Publishers in 1963. Vetter invoked the Copyright Act's termination provision in 2019, effective May 2022. On January 12, 2026, the Fifth Circuit held that the termination right has no geographic limit and that Vetter had reclaimed the worldwide copyright. The ruling, which the music companies Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group and BMG lost, is binding on federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
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图片来源：图：华盛顿的美国最高法院大楼。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。Photo: The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington. Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
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