A federal district court ruled largely for Cher in her royalties dispute with Mary Bono, holding that Sonny and Cher’s 1978 marriage settlement agreement preserved Cher’s contractual rights. The court awarded Cher $187,534.91 in composition royalties, plus prejudgment interest, and declared that she retains specified 50% royalty rights and approval rights. Mary Bono appealed to the Ninth Circuit; the docket information available through April 29, 2026, does not establish the appeal’s later status.
What Cher won
In a November 26, 2025 judgment, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California declared that Cher retained an undivided 50% interest in specified composition and record royalties under her August 10, 1978 Marriage Settlement Agreement (MSA) with Sonny Bono. The declaration covers qualifying composition royalties due on or after July 1, 2022, regardless of when they are paid. It does not mean Cher owns all of Sonny Bono’s copyrights.
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The court also affirmed Cher’s approval rights over specified third-party contracts involving the compositions. For administration, Mary Bono has discretion to choose an administrator, including an entity owned and controlled by Sonny Bono’s heirs, subject to the rights of his four children. Cher may raise reasonable objections to the agreement’s terms, fees, and the administrator’s credentials and qualifications. The judgment did not give Cher an unconditional veto over the choice.
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The court awarded Cher $187,534.91 in composition royalties that Mary Bono had received and retained. It also awarded prejudgment interest at 7% per year from February 1, 2022, through entry of judgment. These are amounts and terms in this case’s judgment, not a general measure of royalty entitlements. The judgment allocated costs between the parties on different claims, with amounts still to be determined.
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Why the court rejected the termination notice
Mary Bono relied on a September 30, 2016 notice under Section 304(c) of the Copyright Act, which concerns termination of certain copyright grants. In a May 29, 2024 summary-judgment order, the district court held that the notice did not terminate Cher’s rights under the MSA. It reasoned that those rights were contractual rights to royalties and approvals under state law, rather than a transfer or license of the underlying copyrights.
The distinction is central: the court did not rule that copyright grants can never be terminated. It held that this notice did not undo Cher’s separate contractual rights under this agreement. The MSA was signed on August 10, 1978, after the pre-1978 grant cutoff discussed in the court’s order.
Rank #2
Cher filed suit in October 2021 after royalties were withheld. The 2024 order resolved the central legal issue and also found that Mary Bono breached the agreement by refusing to pay Cher her share of composition royalties. The 2025 judgment set out the declarations and monetary award.
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Yes. Mary Bono appealed, and the case was assigned Ninth Circuit No. 25-8085, opened December 29, 2025. The available docket page shows a January 27, 2026 briefing-schedule amendment and an April 29, 2026 entry scheduling a mediation conference for July 23, 2026. That entry extended administrative closure to July 30, 2026.
Rank #3
Those entries do not establish what happened after July 30, 2026. They therefore do not show whether the appeal was later decided, settled, dismissed, or remains active. A current status requires checking the live Ninth Circuit or PACER docket.
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Rank #4
What the ruling does—and does not—settle
- It affirms specified contractual rights: Cher’s 50% interest applies to the composition and record royalties described in the judgment, alongside specified approval rights.
- It does not transfer the whole catalog: the ruling concerns rights under the MSA, not ownership of all Sonny Bono copyrights.
- It does not award every royalty ever withheld: the stated monetary award is $187,534.91 in composition royalties, plus the specified prejudgment interest.
- The appeal’s later outcome is not established by the available docket entries: the district-court judgment and the appeal’s eventual disposition are separate matters.
Sources
- May 29, 2024 district-court summary-judgment order.
- November 26, 2025 district-court judgment.
- Ninth Circuit appeal docket, No. 25-8085.
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