The Michael Jackson Estate settled the suit against Disney over the TV special The Last Days of Michael Jackson, which premiered on ABC in 2018. The two-hour documentary used excerpts from several works from the pop star, including “Thriller,” “Black or White,” and “This is It.”
After the premiere of the TV special, various companies related to the King of Pop sued Disney and ABC for copyright infringement. The lawsuit contained particularly harsh words about how Disney itself has always protected its own intellectual property in a very zealous way, to the point of suing a couple on public assistance for wearing costumes similar to Tigger and Eeyore at children’s parties, and several fans for postiong pics of their Star Wars toys on social media. But Disney hired the star litigator Daniel Petrocelli, who answered to the Michael Jackson Estate’s claims saying that the excerpts in the documentary fell under fair use.
As THR reports, the case is now over. Last Wednesday, Disney and the Michael Jackson Estate stipulated to dismiss the case with prejudice, so it can’t be brought to court again. Howard Weitzman, the Michael Jackson Estate’s attorney, told that the parties involved have reached an amicable agreement, but the details haven’t been included in court papers.
This is not the first time that Disney reaches an amicable agreement about copyright issues with other companies. Last November, the popular meme website Giphy removed all images of Baby Yoda, likely to avoid having to deal with copyright complaints from Disney. This action was followed by extensive backlash on social media, fueled by the online publication Vulture and the fans of the popular TV show The Mandalorian. Surprisingly, the media giant didn’t sue Giphy for making Baby Yoda available in GIF form, but it allowed to keep sharing the memes featuring the cute character. Also, it’s not the first time that Disney gets sued for allegedly using someone else’s intellectual property. In 2015, the most renowned animation studio in the world faced a lawsuit from Horizon Comics, which claimed that Iron Man’s body armor was copied from Radix, one of its comics.
All’s well what ends well but, with the rise of video sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, it’s even more important to keep in mind the rules of fair use. While Disney is a huge company with an immense revenue, and has no problems hiring the best lawyers to handle copyright-related issues, a small YouTuber could get in serious trouble if the Michael Jackson Estate decides to sue him for using an excerpt from “Beat It” in his videos. It’s clear that not all companies in the entertainment industry are willing to turn a blind eye to the use of their own intellectual property, and this should make people think twice before publishing clips from their favorite movies or music videos on the Internet.
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Source: THR
