It's a pretty well-know, if bizarre fact that the late Michael Jackson has owned the rights to The Beatles' back catalogue since the 1980s.
Jackson bought ATV Music, which owned the publishing rights to Lennon & McCartney's compositions, for $47.5 million back in 1985. It was a move that understandably didn't go down well with Paul McCartney, who had originally tried to buy the rights to his own songs in 1969 before losing out to ATV, and the pair famously fell out about it.
Now, it seems that since it was announced that Jackson's estate is selling their 50% share in ATV Music to Sony, Macca has taken advantage of a loophole that could allow him to reclaim the songs in 2018.
Apparently, in December 2015 he put the wheels in motion for the process, which allows songwriters to recapture their publishers’ share of their songs if those songs were written before 1978 - and after two consecutive 28-year terms have passed.
In other words, Lennon & McCartney's back catalogue officially turns 56 in 2018, which means that McCartney may be able to step in and finally own the songs that he wrote.
