Well Quincy Jones is another party filing a lawsuit against the Michael Jackson estate. On Friday, Quincy Jones’ legal team filed a suit seeking millions of dollars in royalties from projects that were released after Michael Jackson’s death. Jones is claiming that the way Jackson’s music was utilized in the This Is It film and soundtrack, as well as Jackson’s Cirque du Soleil productions, and 25th anniversary of Bad breached the contract between Jones and Jackson. Sony Music Entertainment and Epic Records were also named in the suit.
According to THR;
A $10 million lawsuit filed by producer Quincy Jones over projects made after Michael Jackson’s death will proceed to trial this summer, after a judge denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Thursday.
In 2013 Jones sued Sony Entertainment and MJJ Productions, a song company controlled by the King of Pop’s estate, claiming master recordings he worked on were wrongfully edited and remixed to deprive him of backend profit participation on works including the This Is It film and soundtrack album and the 25th anniversary edition of Bad.
Jones’ attorney Henry Gradstein argued the movie “couldn’t have been made without these recordings” and said tracks the Jackson Estate does not control were licensed at fair market value, but the ones they did were licensed for $50,000 despite being worth much more.
Judge Michael L. Stern said there are two basic contracts at issue and both sides’ arguments are rely on fundamental contract law that “you learn in the first six months of law school” without any “diversions or frills.”Despite the simplicity of the arguments, Stern said there are factual disputes that are going to require extrinsic evidence — including how to define musical terms like “remix” and “coupling.”
Many of Jackson’s mega-hits, including “Thriller,” “Beat It” and “Billy Jean,” were re-edited for the projects. Jones says MJJ breached his contract by allowing third parties to exploit the works “without first providing a reasonable opportunity to Jones to perform such remixes and/or re-edits.”
Modabber had no comment after the hearing, other than, “We’ll see what happens in June,” alluding to the trial that is set for June 15.
The Jackson estate is also represented by Howard Weitzman.
