Stand up for your copy-rights – Bohs forced to pull Bob Marley tribute top
BOHEMIANS have been forced to scrap their Bob Marley inspired away kit over image right issues.
The north Dublin club went viral last month after releasing images of the white jersey which had a large image of the legendary reggae artist in the right corner.
The jersey made headlines worldwide, with Bohs saying it was inspired by a gig Marley played at their Dalymount Park ground 30 years ago.
It’s understood pre-order sales for the jersey eclipsed the total number of sales for home and away jerseys combined last year.
The club revealed they had interest in the jersey from people in 45 different countries.
However, they have now been forced to offer refunds on all of the jersey after discussions with the Bob Marley representative agency.
“Bohemian Football Club
acted in good faith and followed the correct process when purchasing the licence for this image via a world-leading third-party photo licensing company,” the club said in a statement yesterday.
“However, the Bob Marley representative agency has informed us that this com- pany did not have the right to grant any such licence for this image. We are dealing with this separately.
“Subsequently, following direct correspondence with the Bob Marley representative agency, they cannot license the image to the Bohemian Football Club due to their own contractual and other obligations.
“Consequently, we can no longer supply the jersey with the image of Bob Marley as advertised,” the statement added.
It’s understood that while some prototypes of the jersey had been produced, they had not been made in bulk.
The redesigned jersey mimics the initial Bob Marley styled kit. However, a clenched fist is used instead of the Marley image.
Bohemians are now offering those who pre-ordered the jersey, a choice of a full refund, a store credit or the redesigned jersey.