It was a multi-million-dollar court decision. The Marley family was engaged in a lawsuit against Universal Music Group to recover the copyrights to five albums recorded between 1973 and 1977, when Bob Marley was signed to Island, a label now owned by UMG. It lost.
The stakes were high. Consider this: a legal battle over the copyrights to the albums "Catch a Fire", "Burnin", "Natty Dread", "Rastaman Vibrations" and "Exodus". In other words, not the worst, nor the worst sellers.
US judge Denise Cote (US District Court, Manhattan) recognised Universal as the legal and rightful owner of the five albums recorded by the Tuff Gong between 1973 and 1977 for Island, then run by Chris Blackwell, reports the Reuters news agency.
The Marley family and its lawyers accused UMG of failing to pay royalties to their company, Fifty-Six Hope Road Music Ltd, and of breaking an agreement reached in 1995 that gave them rights to these albums. Finally, they accused UMG of not consulting them on the use of licences, notably the partnerships struck with American phone operators to develop ringtones with Bob's music. Rita Marley and her nine children thus hoped to recover several million dollars in damages.
Alas! Denise Cote ruled that Bob Marley's recordings were "works made for hire" under American copyright law, and that UMG was therefore their legal owner.
"Each of the agreements stipulates that the recordings were the 'absolute property' of Island," Cote added. "Whether Marley could have recorded this music even without entering into these agreements with Island is not the issue".
The argument that Marley may have had artistic control over the recording process was not admissible either. "What matters," she said again, "is that Island had a contractual right to accept or reject what he produced".
Finally, Cote rejected the Marley family's request for a judgment on its claims concerning digital downloads. This time, the judge pointed to the ambiguity of a royalties agreement signed in 1992.
She ordered both parties to begin negotiations under court supervision. A conference is scheduled for 29 October.
Source: Reuters