Cher loses bid to shift $1 million Bono royalties legal bill

Cher won the main round in her royalty fight with Sonny Bono’s widow, but she will still have to eat a legal bill topping $1 million.

U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt rejected the singer’s request to make Mary Bono reimburse $1,023,605 in attorney fees, Billboard reported. According to the publication, the judge found that the dispute turned largely on contract issues rather than federal copyright law, so the fee rules Cher relied on did not apply.

The ruling leaves Cher responsible for the cost of a court battle that has stretched across four years and centered on money from Sonny and Cher’s catalog.

The royalty fight behind the bill

Kronstadt had previously handed Cher the key victory in the case. In a final judgment signed Nov. 26, 2025, the judge formalized an earlier ruling that Mary Bono could not use the federal Copyright Act to take back Cher’s 50 percent share of Sonny Bono’s composition royalties.

That share traces back to Cher’s 1978 divorce agreement with Sonny Bono, according to Rolling Stone. The songs at issue include 1960s hits such as “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.”

The judge also ruled that Cher keeps the right to receive composition and record royalties directly. That remains true even though she sold the rights to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group in 2022, Rolling Stone reported.

Mary Bono, who leads Sonny Bono’s estate, had sought to deal directly with Iconic and send royalty payments through the estate without Cher involved, according to earlier Rolling Stone reporting.

An appeal is still pending

Mary Bono has challenged the ruling that keeps Cher entitled to half of the publishing royalties from the Sonny and Cher-era songs. A federal appeals court has not yet issued a decision.

Lawyers for Cher and Mary Bono did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment.

The fight grew out of copyright termination rights tied to Sonny Bono’s publishing grants. After Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998, Mary Bono took charge of his estate. Those publishing grants became eligible for termination starting in 2018, and Mary later notified publishers that she intended to reclaim certain interests, Rolling Stone reported.

Cher, 79, first became famous with Sonny Bono in the 1960s before building a solo career that brought Grammy, Oscar, and Emmy wins. Earlier in 2026, she appeared at the Grammy Awards to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award.

For now, the bottom line is split: Cher remains the winner on the central royalty question in district court, while Mary Bono avoids paying Cher’s seven-figure legal tab unless a higher court changes the picture.

This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.