Sir Paul McCartney and Sony 'reach deal' on The Beatles song rights

Sir Paul McCartney and Sony have a reached a deal in a battle over who owns publishing rights to The Beatles' songs, The Hollywood Reporter says.

The musician had gone to a US court, seeking to regain the rights to 267 of the band's classic tracks.

He has been trying to get them back since the 1980s, when Michael Jackson famously out-bid him for the rights.

Jackson's debt-ridden estate sold the songs to Sony last year, along with others including New York, New York.

Sir Paul's legal case, filed in a Manhattan court in January, was over what is known as copyright termination - the right of authors to reclaim ownership of their works from music publishers after a specific length of time has passed.

He claimed that he was set to reacquire the Beatles songs in 2018, but said Sony had not confirmed that it would transfer the copyrights to him.

"The parties have resolved this matter by entering into a confidential settlement agreement," Sir Paul's attorney Michael Jacobs wrote in a letter to US District Judge Edgardo Ramos.

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