ABC Sued Over Michael Jackson Documentary
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. Read the full statement below.
The estate also notes that the ABC News primetime special “is not sponsored or approved by the Estate of Michael Jackson” and says the network was using “a copyrighted photo and silhouette image” to promote the show but removed after attorneys demanded that it do so.
Deadline has reached out to ABC for comment.
Here is the estate’s full statement:
We want consumers to know that The Last Days of Michael Jackson, a television special airing on ABC TV (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) tomorrow May 24, is not sponsored or approved by the Estate of Michael Jackson. It is particularly disheartening that Disney, a company known to strongly believe in protecting its own IP rights, would choose to ignore these rights belonging to the Estate.
ABC was using a copyrighted photo and silhouette image owned by the Estate in the trailers and promotional material for the special. Only after notice from our attorneys to ABC News indicating they were infringing on our IP rights were the materials removed. We are told ABC intends to use music and other intellectual property owned by the Estate such as photos, logos, artwork, and more in the program itself, without having licensed the rights to any such material. Imagine if this was done with any of ABC’s intellectual property. We believe the special to be another crass and unauthorized attempt to exploit the life, music and image of Michael Jackson without respect for Michael’s legacy, intellectual property rights or his children.
