Sony To Pay $5 Million Over Meat Loaf Logo

CINCINNATI (CN) - Sony Music Entertainment lost a $5 million contract dispute in the Sixth Circuit over its failure to put a Cleveland record label's logo on reissues of Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" albums.

The ruling is a continuation of the dispute between Sony and Stephen Popovich, 65, whose label Cleveland International Records signed Meat Loaf a.k.a. Michael Lee Aday in 1997 and persuaded Epic Records to release the first solo album, which sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

Popovich and his company sued Sony in 1995 for unpaid royalties and, after settling for nearly $7 million, they filed suit again, claiming Sony flouted the settlement agreement by not putting CIR's logo on reissues of "Bat Out of Hell." And although a section of the 1977 agreement limits the logo obligation to eight major countries, the circuit remanded to "allow Popovich to pursue damages for any possible breach of contract by Sony outside of those eight countries." See ruling.

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