NEW YORK – DECEMBER 15, 2011 -- Arent Fox's Ross Charap and Matthew Finkelstein represented The Adage Group in its history-making acquisition of the rights to several early Beatles songs, including “I Saw Her Standing There,” “She Loves You,” “From Me to You,” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.” The US and Canadian copyrights to the songs had been owned by the Pincus family since 1963, when Leonard Pincus, who retains a share of the songs, purchased the rights after seeing the Beatles perform during a trip to England.

Ross and Matt spent months putting the deal together, performing the requisite due diligence and title clearance, and drafting the documents necessary to consummate the transaction, which made news throughout the music and finance industries.

Arent Fox's ability to represent buyers and sellers of musical compositions, from small groups of classic songs to large catalogues, is aided by Ross Charap’s encyclopedic knowledge of the music publishing industry, gained during his 25 years as in-house counsel to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and more than a decade of private practice thereafter.

Charap explains, “Over the past several years, investment banks and other equity resources have realized that musical composition copyrights can present an attractive investment opportunity due to the relative stability of song royalty revenues. We routinely handle both sales and acquisitions of music catalogues, and are uniquely situated to handle these transactions in a comprehensive yet efficient manner.”