The estate of Bob Marley is suing the global cannabis company Tilray over unpaid licensing fees for the deceased Jamaican music icon’s official marijuana brand, Marley Natural.
The lawsuit, filed in Delaware on Friday (March 27) and obtained by Billboard, alleges Tilray owes nearly $11.3 million for the use of Marley’s name, image, likeness, signature and trademarks on Marley Natural cannabis products. Suing via the entity Marley Green LLC, Marley’s estate accuses Tilray and its partners of “elaborate efforts to avoid paying” and a “scheme to defraud.”
“After the licensing agreement had been in place for a few years, defendants and their former principals soured on paying Marley Green the contractually mandated minimum royalty payments. Conscious that they could be on the hook for these minimum royalty payments as guarantors, defendants set out to shield their assets from the guarantee,” reads the legal complaint. “But try as they might, defendants cannot escape their liability.”
Marley’s estate, helmed by the late singer’s daughter Cedella Marley, has been diligently working for decades to expand and market his legacy. The family’s profile of businesses includes the Tuff Gong record label, music tech company House of Marley and Marley Coffee.
In 2014, the estate partnered with cannabis-focused private equity firm Privateer Holdings to develop the marijuana brand Marley Natural. According to Friday’s lawsuit, a deal was struck allowing Privateer to use Marley’s intellectual property in exchange for regular licensing payments to the estate.
Later, in 2019, Privateer became a subsidiary of the marijuana company Tilray via a downstream merger transaction. Tilray allegedly “began to fall behind” on licensing payments to the Marley estate in the years that followed, with the unpaid balance allegedly reaching nearly $13 million by 2023.
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Marley’s estate terminated the licensing deal and demanded that Tilray pay its debts. But Tilray allegedly refused, insisting that none of its business entities were parties to the Marley licensing agreement following its 2019 corporate reshuffle.
Now, the estate alleges Tilray’s downstream merger was a “fraudulent transfer” structured intentionally to shield assets and avoid paying royalties. In technical terms, Marley’s heirs claim Tilray put all the liability for licensing payments into an empty business entity with no funds.
The lawsuit seeks $11.3 million from Tilray for fraud and breach of contract. This sum accounts for the $13 million in missing licensing fees, minus a $1.7 million settlement that Marley’s heirs already obtained from a related subsidiary.
Reps for Tilray did not immediately return a request for comment on the legal claims on Monday (March 30).
