Court Dismisses Record Company's Claim To Bob Marley Songs

A music company has lost a UK High Court fight with a rival over the rights to 13 Bob Marley songs. The court ruling was handed down on Wednesday

Cayman Music and Blue Mountain Music had aired their dispute at a trial in London last month in a case centred on the construction of an agreement in 1992 - 11 years after Marley's death - under which copyrights in various musical works were transferred by Cayman.

Cayman claimed that the 13 songs were not transferred under that agreement. Blue Mountain, which is responsible for administering rights transferred under that agreement, disputed the claim.

Deputy High Court judge Richard Meade on Wednesday ruled against Cayman Music and dismissed the company's claim.

Lawyers for Cayman Music told the judge that Marley agreed to a publishing deal with the company in late 1973.

They said the 13 songs were written by Marley between October 1973 and October 1976.

They also stated that the reggae icon fraudulently attributed the songs to other people to avoid the provisions of the 1973 publishing agreement.

Lawyers for Blue Mountain said, on the straightforward application of ordinary principles of contract law, the claim had to be dismissed. They accepted that Marley falsely claimed that the 13 songs had been composed by other people in an attempt to escape the automatic assignment of their copyright to Cayman