Michael Jackson Estate Claims ABC Didn’t Secure Rights for "Last Days" Special

[JamesG]

Michael Jackson Estate Claims ABC Didn’t Secure Rights for Special on Late Singer
by Erik Pedersen
May 23, 2018


ABC’s special titled The Last Days of Michael Jackson airs Thursday, and today the late singer’s estate is decrying the network’s “crass and unauthorized attempt to exploit the life, music and image” of the King of Pop.

In a statement, it claims that ABC is using “music and other intellectual property owned by the Estate … without having licensed the rights to any such material.” It adds, “Imagine if this was done with any of ABC’s intellectual property.”

The statement does not say whether the estate plans legal action to halt tomorrow night’s broadcast, however.

http://deadline.com/2018/05/michael-...on-1202396828/

[JamesG]

Michael Jackson Estate Sues ABC over TV Special
by The Associated Press
5/30/18


The estate of Michael Jackson on Wednesday sued ABC and parent company Disney, saying a two-hour documentary on the singer's last days improperly used the King of Pop's songs, music videos and movies.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles and obtained by the Associated Press alleges that last week's special, The Last Days of Michael Jackson, illegally uses significant excerpts of his most valuable songs, including "Billie Jean" and "Bad," and music videos, including "Thriller" and "Black or White."

It also says ABC used clips from the estate's 2016 Spike Lee-directed documentary, Michael Jackson's Journey From Motown to Off the Wall, and from the 2009 feature film Michael Jackson's This is It.





The lawsuit alleges at least 30 violations and seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against further use of the estate's intellectual property.

It frequently cites Disney's aggressive defense of its own copyrights and its normally narrow view of "fair use," the doctrine in copyright law that says short excerpts can be used for news, criticism and research.

"Like Disney, the lifeblood of the estate's business is its intellectual property," the lawsuit says. "Yet for some reason, Disney decided it could just use the estate's most valuable intellectual property for free."





Representatives from ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But when the Jackson camp first raised objections last week, the network defended the special as a legal work of journalism on a newsworthy subject that "does not infringe on his estate's rights."

ABC said that as a courtesy it stopped using an image of Jackson to promote the show that the estate had objected to.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...pecial-1115806

[JamesG]

Michael Jackson Estate, Walt Disney Co. Settle Copyright Dispute over Music, Images of Late Singer
by Bruce Haring
December 19, 2019


The Michael Jackson estate and The Walt Disney Company have settled a copyright lawsuit over the ABC-TV special "The Last Days of Michael Jackson".

The Jackson estate’s main lawyer confirmed the settlement. “The dispute with Disney has been amicably resolved,” said attorney Howard Weitzman. Disney has not commented.

The dispute was over the use of Jackson’s image and music in the 2018 special. The estate claimed that permission was not asked before use.

https://deadline.com/2019/12/michael...it-1202814500/

[Hawkee]

If you were to look at the general picture the actual reason why Michael Jackson's estate sued ABC for not securing the rights for The Last Days Of Michael Jackson over using images of Michael Jackson was just a way for them to add more money to the Jackson family fortune. Take for example ever since Elvis Presley passed away the Elvis Presley Estate has always asked permission to use Elvis's image and picture on Elvis Presley merchandise and if you look at the clothing tags of Elvis Presley on any Elvis t-shirts they mention "ELVIS PRESLEY IMAGE AND LIKENESS USED BY PERMISSION" And the same thing is done with John Lennon merchandise and if you go to Hot Topic take a look at the tag of a John Lennon t-shirt and you'll see the same message but bearing the John Lennon name. A final example is with Lucille Ball and if you see any merchandise with her image not counting I Love Lucy merchandise the Lucille Ball estate asks permission before putting Lucille Ball's image on merchandise. But I can tell that due to this lawsuit Michael Jackson's images will be no longer used on merchandise and there will be no t-shirts purses wallets armbands socks with Michael Jackson's image on them and whatever Michael Jackson merchandise fans have will become a collector's item
Bestie

[JamesG]

^ The estate doesn’t ask permission for the celebs. likeness and image, it’s they who are asked.