If reggae star Bob Marley were alive today he would surely tell his family, Universal Music Group and American mobile phones group Verizon Wireless that they should just 'get together and feel all right'.
Unfortunately, the three are at loggerheads over a list of ringtones that Verizon has put up for sale on its website.

Verizon Wireless, a joint-venture between America's Verizon and Vodafone of the UK, struck a deal with Universal Music earlier this year to sell songs by Bob Marley and the Wailers as ringtones over the internet. But the Marley family claims that they should have sought permission from Fifty Six Hope Road Music Ltd, the family's company, before posting the songs online.

Universal Music owns the rights to some of the biggest songs Marley recorded with his band, including 'Buffalo Soldier' and 'I Shot the Sheriff'. But the estate of Bob Marley and his living family members objected strongly to the deal, claiming that Verizon and Universal Music had gone ahead without any agreement with them.
In response, Verizon said it did not want to create any friction and took the 44-song catalogue down from its site to give the Marley family time to make its peace with Universal.

But rather than go quietly, the family put out a statement saying it had forced Verizon to take down the songs. Verizon responded to that statement by immediately putting all the ringtones back up on its website. This has led to suggestions that the family is now poised to sue Universal Music, and perhaps Verizon, for failing to get permission to use either Marley's music or his likeness on the phone company's website.

Universal Music, meanwhile, has made the songs available to a host of other wireless carriers, in addition to Verizon, a move to which the family has yet to respond.

At present, there is no resolution in sight for the Marley family, Verizon Wireless and Universal Music, who can't seem to unite around the memory of the man who brought reggae to the world - and made vast fortunes for them all.