Court upholds judgement in lawsuit over use of Bob Marley images

By Cy Ryan

Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 | 4:16 p.m.

A federal appeals court today upheld a $1 million judgment for the children of the late singer-songwriter Bob Marley in a lawsuit over the sale of T-shirts and other merchandise depicting their father.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas and to award $1.5 million to lawyers on the winning side.

The use of Marley’s image on T-shirts and other merchandise results in millions of dollars of sales annually, according to the court. Marley died in 1981.

His children in 1999 granted Zion Rootswear L.L.C. the right to merchandise the their father’s image on its goods.

But other companies used images of Marley on items sold by a number of large retailers.

The children and Zion filed suit in 2008 against A.V.E.L.A. Inc.; X One X Movie Archive, Inc.; Central Mills Inc.; Leo Valencia; and Jem Sportswear.

A jury in 2011 found that the defendants’ use of Marley’s image was likely to cause confusion in sales and infringed on the sponsorship of the children.