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In the lucrative world of music copyright, it may be something of a watershed moment: on Friday, after six years of legal wrangling and decades after he wrote the lyrics to the hit song “YMCA,” Victor Willis will gain control of his share of the copyright to that song and others he wrote when he was the lead singer of the 1970s disco group the Village People.

Mr. Willis, who dressed as a policeman during the group’s heyday, was able to recapture those songs, thanks to a little-known provision of copyright legislation that went into effect in 1978. That law granted musicians and songwriters what are known as “termination rights,” allowing them to recover control of their creations after 35 years, even if they had originally signed away their rights.

It is possible, maybe even likely, that other artists who also wrote or recorded songs in 1978 have, after invoking their termination rights, quietly signed new deals with record labels and song publishing companies. But Mr. Willis appears to be the first artist associated with a hit song from that era to announce publicly that he has used his termination rights to regain control of his work.

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– http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/arts/music/a-copyright-victory-35-years-later.html?ref=todayspaper