News

Bob Marley Rights Case Hits The Courts

• 9th Apr 2014

The original publishers behind Bob Marley hits including “No Woman, No Cry” will start a landmark trial on the 12th May 2014 in the High Court, London, between Plaintiffs Cayman Music and Defendants Chris Blackwell’s Blue Mountain Music.

Cayman Music is suing Blue Mountain Music for miss-attribution and diversion of income, amongst other things, in an attempt to retrieve “No Woman, No Cry” and other songs.

Cayman are the original, long-standing publishers of Bob Marley, the most successful black artist of all time, who represented his catalogue from 1967 to late in 1976. The Defendants are the publishing arm of Island Records and sometime publisher of various Bob Marley titles, from the mid 1970s to later in his career. Both publishers retain some of Bob Marley’s work to the present day.

This David vs Goliath scenario sees a small, boutique, music publishing company (Cayman Music), owned and operated by Brian Scholfield, a UK industry veteran, and his son, Ben, who deals with the day to day running of the company – ranged against the might of a music publishing empire (Blue Mountain).

On May 12th this fascinating and unique story involving a complex cast of characters, the most successful black artist of all time, and his most famous song, purportedly stolen from its rightful owners before it was even recorded, may be one step closer to a resolution.