Note to musicians and songwriters, if you don’t pay your debts, you might lose copyrights to the songs you own.

Funk legend George Clinton learned this after a judge granted copyrights to four songs from his extensive catalog to a law firm he owes over $1 million.

The law firm Hendricks & Lewis was awarded a $1.5 million judgment against Clinton back in 2010, but so far has only collected $340,000 of that money. So a federal judge gave the copyrights of the following songs to H&L:

– “Hardcore Jollies”

– “The Electric Spanking of War Babies”

– “Uncle Jam Wants You”

– “One Nation Under A Groove”

According to the ruling, H&L can sell or use the music however it wants — with all money going toward paying back the original judgment.