Lawyers for the two companies, however, dispute the facts and significance of the case and have asked a court to declare Mr. Willis’s filing “void and of no force.” They say his situation has nothing in common with those of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, the Eagles and other pop stars of the same era, some of whom are beginning to invoke termination rights on their recordings or compositions.

“This is totally different, and outside the scope of these termination rights issues,” said Stewart L. Levy, of the New York firm Eisenberg Tanchum & Levy, who is representing the publishing companies. “The Village People were a concept group, created by my clients, who picked the people and the costumes. It was probably no different than the Monkees when they started. We hired this guy. He was an employee, we gave them the material and a studio to record in and controlled what was recorded, where, what hours and what they did.”

In 1976 Congress revised copyright law, inserting a provision that allows musicians and songwriters to regain control of work initially registered with the United States Copyright Office after Jan. 1, 1978. Artists must file termination notices at least two years before the date they want to recoup their work, and once a song or recording qualifies for termination, its authors have five years in which to file a claim; if they fail to act in that time, their right to reclaim the work lapses.

Mr. Levy said that Mr. Willis, now 58, also does not qualify for termination rights because he is only one of several creators of a “joint composition,” and that a majority of the writers must want termination for the claim to take effect. He also said that in some cases Mr. Willis was merely a translator or “adapter of French songs” that are not subject to American law and that were originally written by his clients.