Paul McCartney gives wife Nancy Shevell a ride in his corvette (March 2016)

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Baby you can't drive my car! Paul McCartney gives wife Nancy Shevell a ride in his corvette... as he launches bid to reclaim publishing rights to his songs
By ROSS MCDONAGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 23 March 2016

He's been taken for a ride by some of his former partners.
So Paul McCartney was firmly staying in the driver's seat when he took his wife Nancy Shevell for a spin on Tuesday.
The 73-year-old and his 56-year-old missus of five-and-a-half years were headed to meet a friend at a studio in Burbank.


In the driver's seat: Paul McCartney gave wife Nancy Shevell a ride in his corvette on Tuesday as it emerged he has launched bid to reclaim publishing rights to his songs

As they stepped out of his blue Corvette, the former Beatle grabbed a couple of bags from the car - both of which bore his full name. 
This week it emerged that Sir Paul has launched a bit to reclaim the publishing rights to the songs he co-wrote with John Lennon, which have not been in his possession since the very start of his career.

Although the rocker has amassed a considerable personal fortune of around $1billion and has always been entitled to royalties earned on his countless hits, he does not own the publishing rights - which say when and where the songs can be used commercially.
Lennon and McCartney were persuaded in the early 60s by their manager Brian Epstein to set up a publishing company - Northern Songs - with him and music publisher Dick James, before anyone predicted just how successful the band would be.


The missing piece: Although the 73-year-old rocker has amassed a considerable personal fortune of around $1billion and has always been entitled to royalties earned on his countless hits, he does not own the publishing rights - which say when and where the songs can be used commercially

But When Epstein died in 1967, James sold his share of the company without telling the Beatles, and McCartney has been trying to regain control of the rights ever since.
He even told Michael Jackson about the value of music publishing, who then went and acquired the rights to the Beatles back catalogue before McCartney could, which forever soured their friendship.
However due to the US copyright act of 1976, writers can reclaim the rights to their songs after 56 years - and the earliest songs in the Lennon-McCartney back catalogue will turn that age in 2018.
According to Billboard, McCartney has already processed the necessary legal paperwork to start the procedure, filing a termination notice of 32 of his songs with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Most of the songs, which were written later in his career, carry a termination date of 2025.
As for Lennon's half of the rights, these were already sold to current owners Sony/ATV Music by his widow Yoko Ono in 2009, for the full life of the copyright: 70 years after the artist's death... which for Lennon is December 8, 2050


Early error: Lennon and McCartney were persuaded in the early 60s by their manager Brian Epstein to hand over control of their publishing rights, and McCartney has been trying to get them back ever since (Pictured 1963)