Bob Dylan recently won a lawsuit which was filed by the wife of his co-writer Jacques Levy who wanted to take a portion of the $300 million Dylan received after selling his song catalog.
As you may know, Bob Dylan sold his entire music catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group in December 2020. He gave every right he has over the songs, including his copyright claims and the income he receives from them. The deal also included Dylan’s classics ‘Blowin’ In The Wind,’ ‘ Like A Rolling Stone,’ and ‘The Times They Are A-Changin.’ It is estimated that Dylan sold approximately 600 hundred songs for more than $300 million.
On January 20, 2021, Dylan’s co-writer Jacques Levy’s wife and the publishing company filed a lawsuit against Bob Dylan, demanding $7.25 million, claiming Dylan hasn’t paid Levy’s estate. According to Levy’s wife Claudia Levy, Jacques Levy co-wrote 7 out of 9 songs on the album ‘Desire.’ She claimed in the lawsuit that Levy deserved 35% of the income earned by the compositions along with 35% of the purchase price. It is also alleged in the court filing that Levy’s estate was never compensated after Dylan sold his song catalog for over $300 million.
Levy’s wife and his company asked for their rightful share of the $300 million, but Dylan and his companies refused to do so. According to NY Post, on July 30 Bob Dylan won the lawsuit filed by Claudia Levy and the estate of Jacques Levy. As it appears, the New York supreme court judge Barry Ostrager sided with Dylan.
He ruled that the agreement they made back in 1975 didn’t entitle Levy’s estate to receive any compensation other than what the agreement specifically provided. Following the result, Dylan’s attorney released a statement saying that they were pleased with the decision.
Dylan’s attorney said in the statement that:
“We’re pleased with today’s decision. As we said when the case was filed, this lawsuit was a sad attempt to profit off the recent catalog sale. We’re glad it’s now over.”
Jacques Levy was a songwriter who met Bob Dylan in the mid-1970s. After they met, the pair collaborated on Dylan’s ‘Isis’ and on six other songs from Dylan’s successful album ‘Desire.’ The album was co-written by Levy, and thanks to their partnership, enough songs to create an entire album were written in less than one month.
