Overview
- A federal judge denied Cher’s request to make Mary Bono repay $1,023,605 in attorney’s fees, leaving Cher responsible for her own legal costs.
- The judge explained the fee denial by finding the case was governed primarily by contract law tied to a 1978 divorce agreement, not by the Copyright Act’s fee-shifting rules.
- Cher previously won a related ruling that she is entitled to a 50% share of certain Sonny & Cher royalties and to receive those payments directly.
- Mary Bono has appealed the underlying royalties judgment, so the entitlement and any payment routing remain subject to review by a federal appeals court.
- The dispute grew from Mary’s use of a copyright termination mechanism to reclaim Sonny Bono’s rights and from Cher’s 2022 sale of some rights to Iconic Artists Group, which complicates who gets paid and how.