Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, the first wife of Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, has sued Wilson for a share of royalties that she says he owes her from some of the band’s best-known songs.
In a lawsuit moved from Los Angeles state court to federal court Friday, Wilson-Rutherford asked the court to order Wilson to pay her at least $6.7 million from song rights he sold to a Universal Music Corp affiliate last year and for a full accounting of royalties Wilson owes her from the past seven years.
Wilson and Wilson-Rutherford were married from 1964 until 1978. Wilson cowrote some of the Beach Boys’ biggest hits during that time, including “California Girls,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” and “Good Vibrations”.
A 1981 divorce settlement attached to the lawsuit said Wilson-Rutherford owns half of the rights in 170 compositions Wilson created during their marriage.
Wilson-Rutherford’s lawsuit said the $6.7 million she is requesting was for the sale of his “reversion rights.” U.S. copyright law allows artists to reclaim copyrights they had previously transferred away after decades, and Wilson-Rutherford said Wilson owed her proceeds from the sale of copyrights he recently reclaimed.
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