Sir Paul McCartney will begin regaining the rights to the Beatles back catalogue in five years' time.

The legendary musician lost out on the publishing rights to the songs he co-wrote with John Lennon back in 1985.

Michael Jackson outbid him to buy the Associated Television Corporation's (ATV) back catalogue, including tracks by The Beatles.

However, the 1976 US Copyright Act will see McCartney being able to claim back the songs from 2018 onwards, as songs written before 1978 revert back to the songwriter after 56 years.

Sony paid Jackson $95 million for 50% of the rights back in 2005.

Several years ago, McCartney said of having to pay to perform Beatles songs live: "The annoying thing is I have to pay to play some of my own songs. Each time I want to sing 'Hey Jude' I have to pay."

However, he also denied reports that he was upset at not being left The Beatles' rights in Jackson's will back in 2009.

He said: "The report is that I am devastated to find that he didn't leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue. I had not thought for one minute that the original report [about the will] was true, and therefore the report that I'm devastated is also totally false."

Speaking about his fallout with Jackson over the years, he said: "I got off that years ago. It was something for a while I was very keen on and you can see why, naturally... [but these] sort of things can eat you up.

"I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy-man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones."

The Beatles were recently reported to have made $43.5 million in 2012, increasing their annual turnover by Â£2m.

Watch Paul McCartney perform 'Hey Jude' live below:

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