_edited.png)
Cher Wins Suit Against Sonny Bono's Widow
- Curtis Newart
- Dec 5, 2025
- 1 min read
A federal judge has ruled in Cher's favour in her four-year legal battle against Sonny Bono's widow, Mary Bono, according to Yahoo News Canada.
The dispute erupted in 2021 over Sonny & Cher royalties, when Mary started withholding royalty payments from Cher, for hit songs including "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On", because she disagreed with a court ruling.
US District Judge John A Kronstadt (California) granted Cher the right to collect the amounts owed to her, with the understanding that they would then be passed to the new owner of the rights, Irving Azoff's Iconic Artists Group (to whom Cher sold the rights in 2022).
The judgment also covers Cher's substantial legal costs in all but one claim, despite Mary's request.
Mary held that the US Federal Copyright Act superseded Sonny and Cher's 1978 divorce agreement (which granted Cher 50% of the duo's royalties), allowing her to withhold 100% of the Sonny & Cher royalties to distribute herself.
Mary is the executor of Sonny Bono's estate, in addition to being a former US Representative. She replaced Sonny in his Republican seat in the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2013, winning a special election after his death.
"The judge ruled that California contract law, which governed the divorce agreement, trumped the copyright termination power of the federal Copyright Act," Yahoo News Canada continued.
Mary's lawyer told Rolling Stone magazine that she intends to appeal the decision.
Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998.
