Did Paul McCartney get back the Beatles publishing rights?

We all love Fab Macca and there is a residual strong feeling that he was shafted back in the 60's by various companies. It's well documented elsewhere how ALL artists were, that's why the Law changed. So did he?

Not entirely — but he’s regained partial control of it, after a very long and complex legal and financial process. Here’s a clear summary of where things stand:

1. The original loss of ownership

Back in the 1960s, John Lennon and Paul McCartney assigned their songwriting rights to a publishing company called Northern Songs, co-founded with their manager Brian Epstein and music publisher Dick James.

When Northern Songs went public (1965) and was later sold to ATV (1969), Lennon and McCartney lost controlling interest. By the mid-1970s, ATV Music owned most of the Beatles’ catalog (i.e., the rights to the compositions — not the recordings).

2. The Michael Jackson purchase (1985)

What a slag - Paul told Michael Jackson that the money was in publishing what did he do? He bought the Beatle publishing rights!

Yes, in 1985, Michael Jackson famously bought ATV Music — and thus the Lennon-McCartney publishing catalog — for about $47.5 million.

Was this business, was it betrayal: Paul had tried to buy it himself but couldn’t justify the price. I know what I think...

🎼 3. Sony/ATV merger (1995)

Jackson later merged ATV with Sony’s publishing arm, creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing (50/50 joint venture).

Sony eventually bought out Jackson’s share after his death (2016), making it fully Sony Music Publishing.

4. Paul’s copyright recapture in the U.S.

Under U.S. copyright law (the 1976 Copyright Act, Section 203), songwriters can reclaim ownership of works 35 years after publication.

McCartney quietly began filing for “termination of transfer” starting around 2015 for songs written between 1962 and 1970.

So, Paul now owns his portion of the Beatles catalog in the U.S. as copyright reversion occurs, but Sony retains global administration outside America.

5. What about John Lennon’s share?

John Lennon’s estate, controlled by Yoko Ono and later Sean Ono Lennon, remains under Sony’s umbrella. There’s no public indication they’ve sought similar U.S. reversions, though they could eventually.

6. Recording rights vs. publishing rights

Don’t confuse these with the master recordings — those have always been owned by EMI (now Universal Music).

Paul (and Ringo) get artist royalties, but not ownership of the original Beatles recordings.

In summary

So:

Paul McCartney hasn’t “bought back” the Beatles catalog outright, but he has regained control of his U.S. publishing rights — a big legal and symbolic victory after 50 years of corporate ownership.