By Barbara Gayle,
Staff Reporter
THE MULTI-MILLION dollar recording company, Tuff Gong Records, founded by the original Wailers which included the late reggae superstar Bob Marley, was finally laid to rest yesterday.
The Supreme Court yesterday granted an order winding up Tuff Gong Records Ltd., which was owned by three founding members of the Wailers group Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer.
However, yesterday's decision does not affect the operations of Tuff Gong International, the company later founded by Marley on his own and which is still operating on Marcus Garvey Drive, Kingston.
The order was granted following a petition brought by the Robert Marley Foundation, Tuff Gong International Limited and Fifty Six Hope Road Music Ltd. It brings to an end years of litigation between the parties over the ownership of the name Tuff Gong as well as early Wailers material.
Various disputes arose between the company and the estate of the former members of the Wailers group which resulted in litigation being instituted in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. One of the disputes was in relation to who owned the "Tuff Gong" name and trade mark. The three petitioners, which are owned by the Marley estate, had filed a suit in the Supreme Court in 1996 asking the court to decide who had the right to put out records on the Tuff Gong label.
Michael Hylton, Q.C. who represented the petitioners, told Mr. Justice Theobalds yesterday that on June 28, 1999 a settlement agreement was entered into between the petitioners and the other parties who were the respondent company, Neville Livingston and the estate of Winston Mackintosh. He said clause 8 of the agreement required that six months from the date of the agreement and subject to the performance of the agreement, Mackintosh's estate and Livingston were to procure the filing of the necessary documents to effect the dissolution of the company.
Six months have passed since the signing of the agreement, the petitioners have discharged their obligations under the agreement but the other side failed to comply with the agreement, Mr. Hylton told the court. He also pointed out that the petitioners in discharging their obligations under the agreement incurred significant cost. He said in the circumstances, it was just and equitable that the company should be wound up.
Mr. Justice Theobalds, after hearing the application, granted the order. Tuff Gong Records Ltd., which was the respondent, was not represented.
