Scientist (K-Jah dub artist) Legal Issue with Rockstar

[victm92]

Hi, I think it's well known that Scientist (the artist behind all of the dub rework songs from K-Jah) had a legal issue with Rockstar because they chose to license his songs making an agreement with the original composers from the classic reggae songs rather than with him.

 

However, the thing is I remember reading multiple times about someone at Rockstar stating that Scientist should be grateful with Rockstar because as a result of the songs being in the game, the artist got much more popular and he sold more discs. But I cannot find any source backing this information. Could someone help me finding it? 

[universetwisters]

1 hour ago, victm92 said:

However, the thing is I remember reading multiple times about someone at Rockstar stating that Scientist should be grateful with Rockstar because as a result of the songs being in the game, the artist got much more popular and he sold more discs. But I cannot find any source backing this information. Could someone help me finding it? 

 

I found this, but it seems to be regurgitated from a wikipedia article that has since been edited. There's this interview that details larger issues he has with producing his other albums for record companies. However, this blogspot article led me to a Guardian link that, after running through the wayback machine, states the following:

 

Quote

Throughout his career, King Tubby had two protégées; Prince Jammy and Scientist. The latter came of age on the release of this album, one of the last true dub albums of the 80s, carrying on with the ominous and weirder elements of King Tubby's production oeuvre. The whole album carries a cartoon ghoulish theme and exemplifies the darker side of dub. It's inspired by Perry's remark that the founder of Island Records was a vampire for signing numerous reggae and dub artists. Rockstar Games licensed the Vampire album for their Grand Theft Auto game, but Scientist received no compensation from the deal and sued the company. He ultimately lost because he engineered the album but didn't produce it, so isn't considered the owner of his work - setting a dangerous precedent in the world of dub, where engineering is the key to creation. Rockstar Games successfully argued that with the extra profile its game gave the album, Scientist had already been compensated.

 

Which seems to be the only mention of Rockstar's statement on the matter. But why would they need to testify? They probably wouldn't, as on the blogspot article is a comment that quotes an article from the Jamacia Gleaner newspaper:

 

Quote

from Jamaica Gleaner, 2005

Greensleeves Records wins copyright case

published: Thursday | May 19, 2005 Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter

 

REGGAE GIANTS

Greensleeves Records recently won a copyright infringement case brought against them by one of Jamaica's leading mixing engineers. Hopeton Browne, known in the business as the 'Scientist', lost his bid after an approximate two-year fight in U.S. courts. Browne had challenged Greensleeves for the recording and composition copyrights of five tracks which he worked on for the video game, 'Grand Theft Auto 3.'

 

REGGAE CLASSICS

A release from Greensleeves stated that the tracks come from the album Scientist Rids The World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires, which was released in 1981, and which is now available as part of the Greensleeves Reggae Classics series. The tracks were produced by the renowned Henry 'Junjo' Laws, and had been reportedly licensed by him to Greensleeves. All five tracks, Dance Of The Vampires, The Mummy's Shroud, The Corpse Rises, Your Teeth In My Neck, and Plague Of Zombies, were mixed at King Tubby's Studios back then. Both Lawes and King Tubby are deceased, so that meant that Browne's claims could not be validated. According to Greensleeves Records, the court found that Browne was not the owner of either the recording or composition copyrights. Greensleeves' Managing Director, Chris Sedgwick, claimed that the company went to trial because Browne's claims were unreasonable.

 

DISMISS THE COMPLAINTS

"Basically, Scientist was claiming to own copyrights in songs and recordings as a result of being the mixing engineer. Although we always felt these claims were ridiculous, we had to defend ourselves all the way to trial and are delighted to have got the right result," he said in a release. The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, located in Manhattan, and was presided over by U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbau. Checks with the records office of that court confirmed the judgement made against Browne. A clerk there stated that the judge ordered that the plaintiff (Browne) dismiss the complaints against Greensleeves. Others who reportedly testified at the trial include King Jammy's, who worked with King Tubby's at the time, and Chris Cracknell, Greensleeves' artist and repertoire director.

 

Sadly I can't find an actual proper source from the Jamacia Gleaner as their site leads me nowhere and the staff reporter's page has been wiped. I guess preservation isn't a thing in Jamacia? Anyway, the article mentions that it was Scientist (real name Hopeton Browne) suing Greensleves, not Rockstar themselves. When you combine the two in the hopes of finding a court case, you get Browne v. Greensleeves Records, which goes into detail about the case but I'm not even gonna try to translate legalese because that sh*t goes well above my head. However, Linked here is a docket to the case, but it wants you to pay to see the filings and documents and sorry bud I aint putting real money down to chase down hearsay about a record I don't even like, but fortunately they made the memorandum opinion and final order free to view. Document no. 10 on the docket mentions "NOTICE of Appearance by Fred H. Perkins on behalf of Rockstar Games, Inc", who has represented Rockstar in past court cases. Document no. 17 is titled "STIPULATION AND ORDER OF DISMISSAL AGAINST DEFENDANTS TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. AND ROCKSTAR GAMES, INC. ONLY. IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED". If I had to make an educated guess, it would be that Rockstar was initially named a defendant in the case alongside Greensleeves until the judge told them to f*ck off because it was a matter between Browne and Greensleeves.

I can't find any mention from an actual news source of Rockstar being like "he should be thanking us for using his songs" but it doesn't not sound like something rockstar would say. If I had to guess, it would be that Perkins something to that affect in court, someone sitting in on the trials or who read the transcripts picked it up, and it spread across fan sites and the rumor mill. Not unless there's a news article specifically mentioning it that's lost forever now. But maybe going through old old old gtaf posts from like 2005 or whenever about the case might uncover an actual link or something? Idk 

[victm92]

Nice!

Great post. Thank you for your awesome research and the magnificent findings.