Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, a former manager and confidante of late, great reggae legend, Bob Marley has sued , Tuff Gong Music and Island Def Jam Music Group over copyright ownership regarding Marley’s classic single, War.
Cole, also a former Jamaican national team footballer, filed the lawsuit Thursday in a Pennsylvania federal court According to the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Magazine, Cole recently discovered that he does not own copyright for War as well as another song he has writing credits for, Natty Dread. He has writing credits on both song
The discovery regarding War in May after Cole hired a lawyer to transfer half of his interest in the song to the family of former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.
According to Billboard, Cole wants the court to declare a declaratory judgment that the labels in question infringed on his copyrights by “fraudulently substituting others as the authors” and to require that the labels provide an accounting and pay Cole for all income they have received as owners of the copyright.”
“[Cole] was led to believe that the songs were being copyrighted for him by the record company,” the complaint reads in part “[Cole] was never employed by Tuff Gong Music.”
Neither Tuff Gong nor Island Def Jam – a subdivision of Universal Music Group – have responded to the claims.
Cole was a long-time friend of Marley’s since the late 1960s and was his manager during parts of the 1970s.
