Lawsuit Over Wrongly Attributed Work

In October, Armenter ‘Bo Carter’ Chatmon filed a lawsuit claiming his work was wrongly attributed to another artist. On Eric Clapton’s 1992 album Unplugged, Clapton attributed songwriter credit for “Alberta” to Huddie Ledbetter, which Chatmon alleges is inaccurate. Chatmon is suing Clapton, asserting the melody of “Alberta” was derived from “Corrine, Corrina,” Chatmon’s 1928 song.

Chatmon is demanding unpaid royalties for use of the work. Evidence of Clapton correctly attributing the work to Chatmon at one point is being used to back the allegations. What right of attribution will Chatmon gain from the court in this pre-VARA matter?