Music publisher Morris Levy sued John Lennon on 19 February 1975.
Levy’s Big Seven Music Corporation owned the publishing rights to Chuck Berry’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’. Lennon was sued by Levy due to the similarity of The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’ to Berry’s song, and Lennon agreed to record three Big Seven songs owned by Levy.
That agreement led to Lennon recording the Rock ‘N’ Roll album. However, Lennon had also made a verbal agreement to allow Levy to release the recordings via mail-order on the Adam VIII label. The resulting album, Roots: John Lennon Sings The Great Rock & Roll Hits, was released in the US on 7 February 1975, and led to cease-and-desist notices from Capitol Records.
With the sales of Roots hampered by the legal action, Big Seven and Adam VIII sued Lennon on this day, as well as Apple Records, Capitol Records, EMI, and Lennon’s lawyer Harold Seider. The lawsuit was filed in the New York Supreme Court, and contained six complaints: “Breach of the October 1974 Agreement”; “Conspiracy to Induce Breach of the October 1974 Agreement”; “Tortious Interference with the October 1974 Agreement”; “Intentional Falsehood”; “Fraud”; and “Unfair Competition and Conspiracy to Prevent Plaintiffs from Promoting and Selling the Album Successfully”.
Levy’s lawsuit was for $71 million in damages plus interest and court costs. Lennon won the case on 20 February 1976.