The jingles (The TB Show) were recorded with Tony in attendance and he may well have paid for them. English law however provides that the copyright of anything done in the course of a job, is the property of the employer. Written, performing, conception, designing, whatever. Take a look at your own employment contract and it will likely confirm that - but even if not, it's a principle of law. There are precedents and those usually apply to all unless you get an exclusion from that.
Ronan sold copyrights to Ray when Caroline needed cash to fund trips to New York. (Many of us contributed). I'm told that they were supposed to be used for duplicating tapes for resale to raise money. Ray had a lawyer then who correctly advised "don't publish anything without full copyright clearance." Roinan will have handed the rights over as it was only paper, and he never did value jingles very highly.
So - all you creative types: make sure your work is properly assigned to YOU personally. Your employer might assign it to anyone after you leave and you will have no control unless you can buy the rights back again. And always listen to what your lawyer advises.
Paul Rusling
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