Post by Wet And Gushy on May 31, 2018 18:26:56 GMT -8
The Last Days of Michael Jackson' aired last week.
The estate of Michael Jackson on Wednesday sued ABC and parent company Disney, saying a two-hour doc*mentary 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 doc*mentary, 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.
