Scheer won a huge victory in court!
A federal judge decided He believes The singer’s side, delivering a final arbiter in the four-year royalties war between the singer and her ex-husband, Sonny Bono’s widow, gave her almost everything she sought.
The ruling includes the payment of significant legal costs.
U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt formally filed his earlier ruling finding that Mary Bono, head of her late husband’s estate, was barred from using federal copyright law to reclaim the 50 percent share of Sonny’s authorship royalties given to Cher in her 1978 divorce agreement with Sonny.
Mary has tried to terminate those rights – including her hit songs I got you babe and The rhythm continues, Along with Cher’s 50 percent share of music recordings.
The judge ruled that California contract law, which governs the divorce agreement, trumps the power to terminate copyrights provided in federal copyright law.
He then moved into new territory, arguing that Cher retained the right to pay her composition and recording rights directly to her, even though she sold the rights to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group in 2022.
While Mary requested that neither party be allowed to recover legal costs, the judge ruled to award costs to Scheer as the prevailing party on all but one claim in the case.
Cher, who turns 80 next year, rose to fame alongside Sonny in the 1960s before launching a decades-long solo career. Meanwhile, Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998, leaving Mary in charge of his estate.