By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --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 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 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.
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More