Morna Dodd, a daughter of Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, the late producer responsible for discovering and mentoring Bob Marley and credited with the early development of Ska and Reggae, has been sued by the trustees of her father’s estate for infringement of its intellectual property. .

According to the Daily Mail, last week in the UK’s High Court, lawyers for the estate complained that the 63-year-old had run her reggae-themed bar in Birmingham – the Coxsone Lounge – as being linked to the estate of the late producer.

She was then ordered to remove her father’s name from his bar and, furthermore, she was told that she was not allowed to license any part of the music from the pioneer Studio One producer to a Japanese company, which it did last year.

According to the Daily Mail, she could now be sued by the Jamaican state for any profit she made after the High Court ruling.

Clement Dodd died in 2004 at the age of 72, leaving assets valued at millions of pounds, including shares in Jamaica Recording and Publishing Company Limited (Studio One), the company that is licensing its extensive catalog of music. of approximately 6,000 titles, to members of his family. .

Its music catalog includes recordings by The Wailers, Marcia Griffiths, Alton Ellis, Bob Andy, Delroy Wilson, Burning Spear, The Heptones, Dennis Brown, Sugar Minott and Freddie McGregor.

According to the Daily Mail, “after a series of feuds in Jamaican courts and the High Court in London,” Morna, now 63, is still fighting to receive her share of the wealth from her famous father.

Lawyers say Mr. Dodd’s estate is at a standstill due to a series of “competing claims” brought forward by other potential heirs, which has resulted in the Administrator resuming administration of the estate. General of Jamaica.

“Whatever her right under this will, those assets are currently the property of the estate … Any part of the assets that Ms. Dodd is entitled not yet to have acquired to her and therefore is not entitled to exploit them, “said one of the estate attorneys. is quoted as saying.

According to the Daily Mail, Morna, who was representing herself in court, insisted that she “didn’t want to do anything wrong and claimed that she needed the money to pay lawyers in the long battle for his legacy “.

She also told the judge that she was “financially embarrassed”.

“This has been going on for 17 years – for 17 years I begged them… They say I can’t even assign the living room to my dad. There are 6,000 titles protected by copyright, and I have used 20, ”she reportedly said.

Earlier this year, The Gleaner newspaper reported that Dodd’s latest wills “are still waiting to be updated as the matter remains in the deputy’s office.”

At the time, the newspaper reported that Morna said that “scientific evidence of his relationship with Sir Coxsone was being sought”, by people disputing his will, allegedly because his name was not on his deed. birth.

“I have no problem doing a DNA test because there is absolutely no doubt about my father’s identity. I look like my Nan [Sir Coxsone’s mother], and my sons are like my dad. But why wasn’t all of this told to me 16 years ago, and how exactly will this DNA test be performed? “

She said the DNA request was made on March 18 during a Zoom meeting with some of the parties involved, including lawyers and a representative of the Deputy Head’s department.

“I tried to include my father’s name on my birth certificate because we all know how it was then, and sometimes even now. So, at this meeting, I was told that I should inform all of my siblings about what I was doing. And that’s when my sister’s lawyer said they needed scientific proof of my relationship with my father… ”she explained.

After Sir Coxsone’s death in 2004, his brother Clement Dodd Jr, who was also the son of his mother Una Hutchinson, and the producer’s first child, took his stepmother Norma and his half-sister Carol to court for the their father’s will.

Dodd Jr had filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of Jamaica in 2006, claiming that his name had been wrongly removed from Sir Coxsone’s will, drawn up in December 1987, and which prevented him from collecting royalties from Jamrec, the house of edition of Dodd Jr. Label Studio One that the producer had bequeathed to him.

According to documents filed with the Supreme Court, Sir Coxsone’s will states, among other things: and Claudia equally share all my property and interests in premises at 13 Brentford Road, Kingston 5, as well as all my shares in the Jamaica Recording and Publishing Company Limited, with offices at 13 Brentford Road, Kingston 5. “

However, Dodd Jr.’s mother-in-law and sister had claimed that his name was deliberately deleted by Sir Coxsone.

The question of the will of the producer of Studio One has never ceased to be tumultuous. Even though Clément Junior won the case in 2010, he died in 2015, before anything could be settled. Additionally, Sir Coxsone’s widow Norma died in 2010, while his mother, who was named one of the executors, died before him.

Morna had told The Gleaner in the March interview that she had a company called Studio One UK, which her father approved of, and was in the process of releasing new music.

She had also said that although she never received any returns, royalties or anything from her father’s estate, she made a deal with an interested party.

“It’s been 16 years, and there’s a will, but I haven’t touched a dime all this time. There have been no statements, whether quarterly or otherwise, on the accounts. It’s COVID time; I don’t want to die and leave him, ”she said.