George Gershwin died at 38 without a will, and the Gershwin trusts lobbied Congress for 20 more years of copyright

George Gershwin died of a brain tumour at 38. He had no wife, no children and no will. A 1938 report put his net estate at $341,089, all of it to his mother, Rose, with Rhapsody in Blue appraised as the most valuable asset. Rose died on 16 December 1948. In 1953 her estate gave the manuscripts of Porgy and Bess, Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and the Concerto in F to the Library of Congress. His brother Ira, who wrote the lyrics, had no children either, so the rights passed to nephews, nieces and their children through separate trusts for George and for Ira. Both trusts backed the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, which kept 1924 songs such as Fascinating Rhythm under copyright through 2019 instead of entering the public domain in 1999. Rhapsody in Blue entered the US public domain on 1 January 2020. In 2009 the Ira trust sued publisher Warner/Chappell in Los Angeles over foreign royalties. In 2013 the George Gershwin family trust sued Warner in New York, alleging $4.47 million in unpaid royalties. Porgy and Bess, published in 1935, stays under US copyright until 1 January 2031 under the 95-year term.