Michael Jackson’s estate sues Disney, ABC over TV special

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles 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.” (Photo By Casta03 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

LOS ANGELES — The estate of Michael Jackson sued ABC and parent company Disney on Wednesday, 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 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 defence 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 said they had not yet reviewed the lawsuit but reiterated a statement from last week that the special was a piece of journalism and “did not infringe on his estate’s rights.”

As a work of news, the special would be entitled to fair use of excerpts of Jackson’s work, but the lawsuit dismisses the idea that the documentary had any news value, calling it “a mediocre look back at Michael Jackson’s life and entertainment career.”

The lawsuit says warning letters sent to Disney attorneys before the airing went unanswered.

The special focused on Jackson’s apparent decline in the run-up to his death on June 25, 2009. The 50-year-old left behind heirs that include his mother and three children.

Jackson died of acute intoxication of propofol, a prescription anesthetic he had been taking as a sleep aid during preparations for a series of comeback concerts.

Former cardiologist Conrad Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson a fatal dose of the drug. He served two years in jail, and his conviction was upheld in 2014.