--- description: Including hits like “Come Together” and “Don’t Let Me Down" title: Paul McCartney Is Trying to Get Back the Rights to His Beatles Songs image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0040ae49b8919d/69888bed0a4a2264779c8eae/rtx1g54q.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Paul McCartney Is Trying to Get Back the Rights to His Beatles Songs by [Valentina Zarya / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Valentina Zarya / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 22, 2016 3:10 AM CUT  Paul McCartney performs at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France, June 11, 2015. Paul McCartney performs at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France, June 11, 2015.Benoit Tessier—Reuters by [Valentina Zarya / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Valentina Zarya / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 22, 2016 3:10 AM CUT Paul McCartney might finally get his hands on the Lennon-McCartney song catalog—56 years after the songs in it were originally published. [_Billboard_](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7263857/paul-mccartney-beatles-songs-publishing "undefined") reports that, as of last December, the former Beatles frontman has put in action a long-term plan to buy back the rights to his and John Lennon’s songs. To backtrack a bit: The catalog, until recently, was jointly owned by Sony and the Michael Jackson estate-owned ATV Music Publishing. Last week, [Sony announced](http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7256367/sony-michael-jackson-estate-sony-atv-music-publishing-deal "undefined") that it would be buying out the Jackson estate’s 50% share in the venture, giving it full ownership over the catalog. While Sony now owns the rights to all songs in the catalog, the [U.S. Copyright Act of 1976](http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf "undefined") gives songwriters the ability to reclaim ownership of their songs. For songs written before 1978, they can do so after 56 years; on or after 1978, the deadline decreases to 35 years. Because most Beatles songs were written in the Sixties and early Seventies, the 56-year rule applies, with the earliest-written songs beginning to become available for McCartney to reclaim in 2018. Copyright law is tricky, but suffice it to say that the 73-year-old McCartney is ready to Get Back what’s his. [_This article originally appeared on Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2016/03/21/paul-mccartney-beatles-songs/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4267160/paul-mccartney-beatles-song-rights/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4267160/paul-mccartney-beatles-song-rights/"},"headline":"Paul McCartney Is Trying to Get Back the Rights to His Beatles Songs","datePublished":"2016-03-22T03:10:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:05:53.928Z","description":"Including hits like “Come Together” and “Don’t Let Me Down\"","url":"https://time.com/4267160/paul-mccartney-beatles-song-rights/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0040ae49b8919d/69888bed0a4a2264779c8eae/rtx1g54q.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Valentina Zarya / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0040ae49b8919d/69888bed0a4a2264779c8eae/rtx1g54q.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul McCartney performs at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, near Paris","caption":"Paul McCartney performs at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, near Paris","creditText":"Benoit Tessier—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4267160/paul-mccartney-beatles-song-rights/","name":"Paul McCartney Is Trying to Get Back the Rights to His Beatles Songs"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Rare Look at the Beginnings of Beatlemania","description":"In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first major performance in America on The Ed Sullivan Show, here's a look at archival footage of when the British band first took the U.S. by storm.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ndxmm4Nl/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-07T00:19:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ndxmm4Nl.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4267160/paul-mccartney-beatles-song-rights/","duration":"PT4M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4267160/paul-mccartney-beatles-song-rights/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```