MUMBAI: The legal action between music label Universal music group (UMG) and a media company Rock River Communications was revived. The action was over the rights to distribute remixes of early recordings by icon Bob Marley and the Wailers.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California determined that UMG must show that it did not attempt to block a music production company from distributing remixes of 16 Marley songs licensed from a third company.
Rock River claimed it legally licensed the tracks recorded by producer Lee Perry between 1969 and 1972. This was before Marley signed with Universal-owned Island Records.
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California-based appeals court noted that when Marley recorded in Jamaica in the early years, record keeping was not a primary concern saying that for decades there was confusion in the marketplace as to which entities own licensing rights for these recordings.
In 2008, Rock River sued Universal for forcing its plans to release an album called ‘Roots, Rock, Remixed’ that included 12 versions of popular Marley songs. It included the track Lively Up Yourself. Universal claimed to have purchased exclusive rights to the music in 2003 from a company called JAD Records, according to court documents. According to the suit, after the remix album was completed, Universal Music objected, claiming exclusive rights to the same recordings and asking Apple to remove the tracks from iTunes.
