The popular Beatles song says “All You Need is Love” but Sir Paul McCartney will need more than that when he goes after music conglomerate Sony/ATV to reclaim the copyrights to 267 Beatles songs that pop star Michael Jackson acquired prior to his death.

In 1985, Michael Jackson outbid McCartney for the publishing rights to the Beatles’ songs. The final bid totaled $47.5 million and gave Jackson not only the rights to the Beatles’ songs but an estimated 4,000 songs and music tunes from the library of Robert Holmes à Court, an Australian businessman.

In 1995, Jackson took this music collection and entered into a joint venture with his Sony-based label and created Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which became one of the world’s largest song publishers and was estimated to have a net worth of $2 billion. In 2016, seven years after Jackson’s death, his estate sold his stake in Sony/ATV for $750 million to Sony. The Beatles’ songs were included in Sony’s purchase of the estate.

On Wednesday the 18th, McCartney filed suit in a New York Federal court with his legal team citing a provision (17 U.S.C.§304(c)(3)) of the 1976 Copyright Act which allows author(s) and co-author(s) the right to reclaim their copyrighted works “at any time during a period of five years beginning at the end of fifty-six years from the date copyright was originally secured, or beginning on January 1, 1978, whichever is later.” In order to terminate a transfer or license to a grantee, an author must serve advance notice on the grantee in writing.

In October of 2008, McCartney served and recorded in the U.S. Copyright Office termination notices to Sony/ATV that stated he wanted to reclaim the rights to the songs he co-wrote with former Beatle John Lennon from 1962-1971. The songs, some of which include “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, “All You Need is Love”, and “Love Me Do” comprise a majority of the Beatles’ catalog.

“Because the earliest of Paul McCartney’s terminations will take effect in 2018, a judicial declaration is necessary and appropriate at this time so that Paul McCartney can rely on quiet, unclouded title to his rights,” the suit said.

As part of their defense, Sony/ATV plans to reference a similar case that the musical group Duran Duran brought to England’s High Court against a Sony/ATV subsidiary. The group argued that U.S. Copyright Law allowed for them to request a reversion of their copyrighted material after 35 years. Unfortunately, for the group, the Court did not rule in their favor as they are governed by English laws of contract which barred them from reclaiming rights in the United States. In the McCartney v. Sony/ATV lawsuit, it is noted that in 1962 McCartney and Lennon signed contracts in England. McCartney’s legal team hopes the U.S. Copyright law will take precedence over English laws of contract.

A spokeswoman for Sony/ATV said in a statement, “Sony/ATV has the highest respect for Sir Paul McCartney with whom we have enjoyed a long and mutually rewarding relationship with respect to the treasured Lennon & McCartney song catalog. We have collaborated closely with both Sir Paul and the late John Lennon’s Estate for decades to protect, preserve, and promote the catalog’s long-term value. We are disappointed that they have filed this lawsuit which we believe is both unnecessary and premature.”

McCartney is seeking a declaratory judgement to reclaim his copyright interests, as well as his attorney’s fees.