Bob Marley Posthumously Earns $23m Anually After 3-Decade Long Legal Battle over His Estate

King of Reggae Late Robert Nesta Marley may have pitched tents with common people while alive, as many of his tracks potray; promoting freedom for poor and oppressed people, social equality, and justice, but by no means was the icon a poor man as he left behind a rich estate built by years of musical excellence.
Reportedly worth $30m at the time of his death, his estate became the object of lawsuits for more than three decades after his demise on May 11, 1981.
Born February 6, 1945, Bob Marley lived a humble life and did not leave behind a will as per his Rastafari beliefs that characterize lawyers and legal documents as evil and tools of Babylon. His family could only depend on the Jamaican intestate law to decide on the distribution of his wealth.
Marley’s business attorney, David Steinberg, and an accountant, Marvin Zolt, convinced Rita to forge his name to a series of documents, and predate them to before he died. The plan was to transfer control of the large majority of Marley’s corporate holdings, along with much of his royalty rights and money, to her.
The scheme was uncovered by one of Marley’s former managers and it began a long series of legal battles which ended after the two accomplices were found guilty to fraud and other illegalities to the tune of $6 million.
Rita Marley also confessed and stated that she acted upon the advice of the attorney. She lost her administrative control of Bob Marley’s estate which she had since his death until 1986.
At the same time, other legal claims popped up from several children of Marley and their mothers; one from the Wailers, Marley’s eight bandmates at the time of his death; and another from Cayman Music, which claims to own some of Marley’s recordings.
Marley’s mother also moved to his $300,000 South Dade house in Miami in 1977 and Chris Blackwell, president of Island Records, Marley’s record label, wanted to include the property in an $8.2-million sale of Marley’s estate.
Blackwell would get royalty rights from Marley’s recordings, copyrights for his songs after 1976 and real estate including South Dade house if the deal sailed through. He expressed willingness to negotiate the sale of the house but Bob Marley’s mother contested the deal. The legal battle ended after a decade with both parties benefiting.
In another legal battle that ended in the early 90s, the Jamaican Supreme Court ruled that Rita Marley and Marley’s children had the exclusive right to use Marley’s name, likeness and image for commercial purposes.
This ruling prompted another lawsuit in 2011 when Rita Marley and nine of Bob’s children sued his half-brother, Richard Booker and two of his corporations. Booker was using Marley’s name and image to market the annual 9 Mile Music Festival in Miami and he owned a company which gives tours of the village where Marley was born and is now buried.
He was also trademarking the term “Mama Marley” for his line of fish products. Booker claimed that Bob Marley had given him permission to use the family name. After a year in court, the family reached a settlement agreement.
As of 2018, Bob Marley is the fifth top-earning dead celebrity, according to Forbes. His estate, now named House of Marley, is managed by four of his children, Rohan Marley, the brand officer of the estate; Cedella; Stephen and Ziggy, while the rest sit on a board and share the proceeds evenly.
The proceeds are derived from the sale of products in more than 48 countries, according to Forbes, which included headphones, Marley Natural cannabis, smoking accessories, Get Together portable speakers (which logged $6 million in sales in 2016) and Smile Jamaica earphones ($8.1 million).
There are also Uplift earphones; Marley Coffee (managed by Rohan) and Marley Natural (managed by Cedella) which sells herb-related products such as smoked-glass water pipe.
The Marley family have hired a team to help run House Marley and to deal with the unauthorized use of Bob’s name and likeness. Forbes estimates that unauthorized sales of Marley music and merchandise generate more than half a billion dollars a year, though the estate disputes this.