Skill declares War on Tuff Gong

Alan ‘Skill’ Cole, a former manager and confidante of Bob Marley, has reportedly sued Tuff Gong and Island Def Jam Music Group over copyright ownership to the Marley song War, for which he is credited as writer.

The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Magazine report that Cole recently discovered he does not own the copyrights to War and Natty Dread, another Marley song for which he has writing credits.

His lawsuit was filed Thursday in Pennsylvania federal court.

According to Billboard, Cole hired a lawyer in May to help him transfer half of his interest in War to the family of former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. It was then that the lawyer discovered Tuff Gong Music holds the copyright as the “employer for hire”.