PAUL McCartney, who has waited decades to reclaim ownership of hundreds of the Beatles’ songs, should wait a little longer rather than continue his U.S. lawsuit against Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, the defendant said.

    In a filing Monday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, a lawyer for Sony/ATV said the publisher has never challenged the validity of McCartney’s notices to terminate its copyrights in the songs, starting in October 2018.

    As a result, McCartney’s Jan. 18 lawsuit “impermissibly seeks an advisory opinion on a hypothetical claim” and should be dismissed for the time being, the lawyer, Donald Zakarin, wrote.

    Lawyers for McCartney had no immediate comment Tuesday.

    The rock legend, 74, was outbid by Michael Jackson in 1985 for the rights to songs credited to McCartney and John Lennon such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude.”

    These rights were rolled a decade later into Sony/ATV, a joint venture with Sony Corp. Jackson’s estate sold its stake in that venture to Sony for US$750 million last year.

    McCartney sued 1-1/2 months after a British court rejected similar claims against Sony/ATV’s Gloucester Place Music unit by Duran Duran, saying the pop group’s contracts were governed by English law and barred members from reclaiming their songs.

    Zakarin said McCartney’s claims are also governed by English law, and that he should wait for Duran Duran to finish its appeal rather than engage in “forum shopping” in the United States.

    Revisions to U.S. copyright law in 1976 let authors reclaim song rights after certain periods of time elapsed.

    McCartney wants the court to declare he would not breach any contract by exercising termination rights. His case could affect other artists who signed contracts outside the United States.

    U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos is scheduled to consider Zakarin’s letter at an April 5 conference, ahead of an expected formal motion to dismiss McCartney’s lawsuit.

    (SD-Agencies) Paul McCartneyJK Rowling fan guesses latest ‘Cormoran Strike’ book titleA J.K. Rowling fan has guessed the name of the author’s fourth “Cormoran Strike” novel.

    After she was asked on Twitter to give a hint as to what the book would be called, Rowling said if someone correctly guessed she would confirm it.

    She then hinted the title was two words made up of _ _ _ H _ _ / _ H _ _ _.

    After many suggestions including “Eighty Shoes,” “Mashed Chips, “”Mayhem Sheep” and “Mighty Thumb,” someone correctly guessed “Lethal White.”

    “Well, that was fun,” Rowling tweeted, before promising the fan a signed copy of the book, “when I finally finish it.”

    “The Cormoran Strike” crime novels, written under Rowling’s pseudonym Robert Galbraith, follow a private investigator and his assistant.

    Last year, the author revealed to the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba that the next book would pick up immediately after the events at the climax of the third novel, “Career of Evil.”

    (SD-Agencies)