
A London High Court has begun hearing a copyright dispute over 13 songs, including "No Woman No Cry," written by the legendary Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley. The copyright dispute involves two music companies, Cayman Music and Blue Mountain Music.
In Tuesday's (13/05) hearing, Cayman Music sought to obtain copyright for 13 songs that were allegedly not included in the list of song copyrights sold to Blue Mountain Music when Cayman Music sold its copyrights to Blue Mountain in 1992.
The reason, according to Cayman Music, is that Bob Marley wrote them under other people's names.
Blue Mountain insists that the intention of the sale agreement was to transfer full ownership of the copyrights.
Among the songs whose copyrights are being contested is "No Woman, No Cry," one of the most famous songs by the dreadlocked singer who passed away in 1981. The court is scheduled to issue a decision before the end of this week.
Copyright claims have also been filed by Bob Marley's family. Through a New York court, they sued to obtain copyrights for several famous albums. However, the lawsuit was dismissed, and the judge ruled that Universal Music Group, UMG, owned the copyrights to five albums recorded between 1973 and 1977 for Island Records.
Source: bbc.co.uk