Bob Dylan can continue to rest peacefully as the judge rejected the quest of his collaborator's widow over the sales of his music catalog.
The late wife of Jacques Levy, Claudia, lost the lawsuit requiring Bob Dylan to give her late husband's estate a percentage of one of his album's sales.
This week, a judge in Manhattan Supreme Court discharged a complaint from the estate of Jacques, the person who worked with Dylan for his "Desire" album.
Jacques, who died in 2004, co-wrote seven of the nine songs of the aforementioned 1976 album. The songs in question are "Isis," "Black Diamond Bay, a Bedtime Story," "Money Blues." "Romance in Durango," "Hurricane," "Joey," "Catfish," "Rita Mae," Mozambique," and "Oh Sister."
His widow, Claudia, specifically launched a $7.25 million lawsuit where she claimed that Dylan owed her husband's estate a 35 percent "of the purchase price."
The widow ultimately referred to the sales the late singer earned from Universal Music Group for the seven songs.
However, Dylan's lawyers hit back and said that Dylan and Jacques signed a contract in 1975 where they agreed that the estate was only entitled to 35 percent in royalties. This does not include another 35 percent cut from the recent sales in 2020.
Judge Ruled In Favor Of Dylan
According to Judge Barry Ostrager, the "Blowin' in the Wind" singer has complete and full ownership of the songs.
Ostrager detailed, "The 1975 agreement vested in Dylan complete ownership and control of the copyrights to the compositions and limited Levy's rights to 35% of the specified compensation."
The ruling added that Dylan's camp already gave Jacques' estate $1 million.
Following the good news, the singer's attorney, Orin Snyder, released a statement (per New York Post) to express how pleased the team felt with the decision.
Snyder added that the lawsuit was only a "sad attempt" of Claudia to gain from the recent catalog sale. After going through the headache, the representative said that they are glad the lawsuit is over now.
However, a lawyer for the Levy estate Aaron Richard Golub said that they plan to appeal in pursuit of overturning the ruling.
The album that gave birth to the lawsuit topped the Billboard Pop Album chart for five consecutive weeks. It also became the 174th artist on the list of Rolling Stone Magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."
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