HIStory logo - Updates

I have been informed that the HIStory logo has been cancelled in Germany due to the a 3rd party request (might be the Michael Jackson Estate). The action happened last October.

Tidbits

Most of the Michael Jackson company addresses has been changed to Howard Weitzman's office address recently.
As well the companies have a new CPA: Miller Kaplan Arase and Co. LLP.

Hamid Moslehi, MJ's past personal videographer registered several audio/video materials recently. The materials consists recordings of MJ concerts and his personal life. Will he expose them somehow?

And if someone reads this from the MJ Estate: all the Estate owned domain redirections are not working, except MichaelJacksonLive.com

Legal Cases - Updates

Michael Jackson Estate on probate court
Other than having a court hearing about the DeMann case can not be expected soon.

Michael Jackson Estate vs. Howard Mann
The case is still ongoing, nothing interesting has happened. Trial date set for September 2012.
As a reminder: the MJ Estate is suing Mann for illegally using some MJ trademarks and to interfere with their business.

Michael Jackson Estate vs. Melissa Johnson
The case is back, or it has never gone! Johnson's lawyers still contend the settlement agreement between the parties that has been amended by the judge earlier. The Estate wants to make sure that they can fully protect MJ's rights. In the new documents Johnson explained that she is open for a settlement.
As a reminder: the MJ Estate is suing Johnson for illegally using some MJ trademarks and to interfere with their business.

John Landis and Ola Ray vs. Michael Jackson Estate
The case is still ongoing and will go on trial early this year.
Both Landis and Ray are suing the MJ Estate for allegedly unpaid royalty fees from the "Thriller" video.

Lloyds vs. AEG Live and Michael Jackson Estate
At the moment I have no further information on the case.

Furthermore MJ Publishing Trust and Bravado Merchandising Group are included in plenty of cases due to copyright infrigments.

Official websites - Updates

The websites controlled by the MJ Estate are quite "simple", re-developments would be needed.


Domains owned by The Michael Jackson Company:
- Except MichaelJacksonLive.com (the last official personal website of MJ) all the domains are redirected to MichaelJacksonFanFest.com (the official website for the December event).

- List of the domains:
MICHAEL-FEST.COM
MICHAEL-FEST.NET
MICHAEL-FEST.ORG
MICHAEL-JACKSON-FAN-FEST.COM
MICHAEL-JACKSON-FESTIVAL.COM
MICHAEL-JACKSON-FESTIVAL.NET
MICHAEL-JACKSON-INTERNATIONAL-FESTIVAL.COM
MICHAEL-JACKSON-INTERNATIONAL-FESTIVAL.NET
MICHAEL-JACKSON-INTERNATIONAL-TRIBUTE.COM
MICHAELFEST.NET
MICHAELFEST.ORG
MICHAELJACKSON-FESTIVAL.COM
MICHAELJACKSON-FESTIVAL.NET
MICHAELJACKSONFANFEST.COM
MICHAELJACKSONFANFEST.NET
MICHAELJACKSONFANFEST.ORG
MICHAELJACKSONFESTIVALINTERNATIONAL.COM
MICHAELJACKSONFESTIVALINTERNATIONAL.NET
MJ-IF.COM
MJ-IF.NET
THE-FIRST-ANNUAL-MICHAEL-JACKSON-INTERNATIONAL-FESTIVAL.COM
THEFIRSTANNUALMICHAELJACKSONINTERNATIONALFESTIVAL.COM
THEMICHAELFEST.COM
THEMICHAELFEST.NET
THEMICHAELFEST.ORG
THEMICHAELJACKSON-FESTIVAL.COM
THEMICHAELJACKSON-FESTIVAL.NET
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANFEST.COM
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANFEST.NET
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANFEST.ORG
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANFESTIVAL.COM
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANFESTIVAL.NET
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANFESTIVAL.ORG
THESECONDANNUALMICHAELJACKSONINTERNATIONALFESTIVAL.COM
365MJ.COM
BESTOFMICHAELJACKSON.COM
CLUB-MJ.COM
CLUBJACKSON.COM
JACKSONWEAR.COM
MICHAEL-JACKSON-LIVE.COM
MICHAEL-JACKSON-RINGTONES.COM
MICHAEL-JACKSON.BIZ
MICHAEL-JACKSON.NET
MICHAEL-JACKSON.ORG
MICHAEL-JACKSON.TV
MICHAEL-JACKSONS-NEVERLAND-RANCH.COM
MICHAELJACKSON-LIVE.COM
MICHAELJACKSON.TV
MICHAELJACKSONBIOGRAPHY.COM
MICHAELJACKSONCOMPANY.COM
MICHAELJACKSONFANCLUB.COM
MICHAELJACKSONLIVE.COM
MICHAELJACKSONRINGTONE.COM
MICHAELJACKSONRINGTONES.COM
MICHAELJJACKSON.COM
MICHAELJOSEPHJACKSON.COM
MICHAELJOSEPHJACKSON.ORG
MIJACMUSIC.COM
MJEXCLUSIVE.COM
MJJ-FILMS.COM
MJJ-NEWS.COM
MJJ-NEWS.NET
MJJ.BIZ
MJJ.NET
MJJFANCLUB.COM
MJJFANSONLINE.COM
MJJFILMS.COM
MJJMUSIC.NET
MJJONLINE.NET
MJJPRODUCTIONS.COM
MJJRADIO.COM
MJRADIO.COM
NEVERLAND.ORG
PETERPAN.NET
PETERPAN.ORG
THEJACKSON5.COM
THEJACKSON5.NET
THEJACKSON5.ORG
THEJACKSONFIVE.COM
THEJACKSONFIVE.NET
THEJACKSONFIVE.ORG
THEJACKSONS.BIZ
THEJACKSONS.COM
THEJACKSONYEARS.COM
THEKINGOFPOP.COM
THEMICHAELJACKSONCOMPANY.COM
THEMICHAELJACKSONFANCLUB.COM


Domains owned by strategic partners:
- Sony:
michaeljackson.com
michaeljackson.de
michaeljackson.es
kingofpop.se
kingofpop.org
thisisit.gr
thisisitmovie.com

- AEG:
michaeljacksonexhibition.co.uk

- Bravado:
michaeljacksonmerch.com

- Cirque De Soleil:
cirquemichaeljackson.com

- NetInfo2u Inc.:
mjbobble.com
whereismj.com

- Ubisoft:
michaeljackson-theexperience.com

- SEE Virtual World MJ LLC:
PlanetMichael.com

Tidbits

The US claims that the president of Equatorial Guinea refuses to return materials he got through stoling his country's money. President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo amongst others bought Michael Jackson memorablia for 32 million USD. I still don't know which collection he got, that includes MJ's Bad tour gloves.

Freddy DeMann's case against the MJ Estate is still ongoing on the Los Angeles Superior Court. Amongst others they claim: "Now that the recordings, dances, likeness, styles and public persona of Michael Jackson created while Mr. DeMann and his companies managed Michael Jackson have been translated into the newest forms of amusements ranging from video games to Cirque Du Soleil, the executors of Michael Jackson's Estate have elected to deny plaintiff DeMann its rights under the 1978 management agreement."

Julien Entertainment.com demands $600,000 from Live Auctioneers, an online auction site, claiming it suffered those damages defending a lawsuit from a bidder in the 2009 auction of items from Michael Jackson's "Neverland."

Nederlander Presentations Inc. vs. Michael Jackson Estate

The plaintiff sued originally Michael Jackson and later his Estate claiming that they signed an agreement to produce a "Thriller" musical for the broadway. However this deal never realised.

Now the case has been dismissed for the plaintiff's request, no further details are known.

First Commemorative Mint Inc. vs. Bravado International Merchandising Services Inc.

The above titled case has been settled last week. The parties agreed to discuss the settlement terms out of the court, and came to a solution that is now known at the moment.

As I have reported previously, the plaintiff decided to sue not only Bravado but Triumph International Inc. because they claimed that the defendants along with the Michael Jackson Estate refused to participate in certain PR events. Therefore they have lost big opportunities selling the coins.

The company already gave out a press release saying that they will sell the coings again, and this will be available at retailer stores very soon. The only change I noticed is that selling the coings is strictly limited to the US.

Business Entities - Updates

Still the Michael Jackson intellectual properties are divided into many companies. Other than that some entities' profile is unknown.

100% ownership:
The Michael Jackson Company LLC (Active in Delaware and California; Owns some intellectual property since 2006)
MJJ Productions Inc. (Active both in Delaware and California; Owns some intellectual property since 1979; MJ's production company between 1979-2006)
MJJ Ventures (Active in California; Owns some intellectual property related to short films since 1991)
Optimum productions Inc. (Active in California; Owns intellectual property related to short films since 1983)
MJJ Artistic Inc. (Active in California; Owns some intellectual property since 1990)
Nation Comics Inc. (Active in California; Owns some intellectial property since 1991)
Invincible Tours Inc. (Active in California; Controlled MJ's planned 2002 tour since 2001)
Triumph International Inc. (Active in Delaware and California; Owns most of the intellectual property related to MJ since 1982)
Triumph Multimedia Inc. (Active in California; Owns some intellectual property since 1993)
MJ-ATV Publishing Trust (Active in Delaware; Controls MJ's part in Sony/ATV since 1999)
MJ Publishing LLC (Active in Delaware; Controls MJ's own music catalog and master recordings since 1998, aka. MiJac Music)
New Horizon Trust I. II. and III. (Active in Delaware; Holds publishing rights against debts)
Go For Your Dream Foundation (Active in California; Controls MJ's previous foundation since 2003)
Desert Auto LLC (Active in California and Nevada; It's profile is unknown)

50% partnerships:
SEE Virtual World MJ LLC (Active in California; Controls the joint venture on PlanetMichael.com project since 2009)
SEE Virtual World MJ Operations LLC (Active in California; Controls the joint venture on PlanetMichael.com project since 2010)
Cirque Jackson I.P. LLC (Active in Delaware; Controls the joint venture with Cirque De Soleil on the MJ shows since 2010)
Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC (Active in Delaware and California; Controls the joint venture with Sony since 1995)
Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC (Active in California; Controls MJ's Neverland Ranch with Colony Capital since 2008)
MJJ Records LLC (Active in Delaware and California; Owns master records and intellectual property to MJ's MJJ Music label recordings with Sony)
World Events LLC (Active in Delaware; Owns intellectual property to the 2001 MJ concerts with David Gest)
MJ Licensing LLC (Active in Delaware; Owns some intellectual property in Europe since 2003 with Dieter Wiesner)

Questionable companies:
MJJ Kingdom LLC (Active in Delaware and California; It's profile is unknown, created in the Tohme Tohme era in 2008)
Jackson International LLC (Active in California; MJ's previous investment company since 1998, it's function is unknown)

Legal Cases - Updates

Below you can read an updated list of the legal cases of the Michael Jackson Estate (I didn't include any non-related or Jackson family cases). At the moment the MJ Estate doesn't have any serious cases, but they have to fight to protect MJ's legacy.

Michael Jackson Estate on probate court
September will have some interesting hearings, amongst others the court will decide on a new contract between the MJ Estate and an unnamed party about selling exclusive MJ rights; selling the Hayvenhurst residence and buying a new estate for Katherine Jackson and the kids.

Michael Jackson Estate vs. Howard Mann
The case is still ongoing, but after the motion of the private investigator has been rejected nothing interesting happened. The trial already has a tentative date for September, 2012.
As a reminder: the MJ Estate is suing Mann for illegally using some MJ trademarks and to interfere with their business.

John Landis and Ola Ray vs. Michael Jackson Estate
The cases will go on trial from October 24th, 2011 and early next year.
Both Landis and Ray are suing the MJ Estate for allegedly unpaid royalty fees from the "Thriller" video.

Nederlander Presentations vs. Michael Jackson Estate
The case will go on trial this November.
As a reminder: Nederlander sued MJ due to a contract for the theatrical version of "Thriller", that never realised.

Lloyds vs. AEG Live and Michael Jackson Estate
At the moment I have no further information on the case.

Michael Jackson Estate vs. Melissa Johnson
After the case has been closed some other documets been filed on the court, however many of them has been filed under seal. Based on the available papers it seems that Johnson still tries to fight for the intellectual properties of the MJ Estate and wants to be heard on October 24, 2011. And of course she has a new lawyer again, who is asking for some delay in the case... again. This is a last and powerless attempt on Johnson's part.
As a reminder: the MJ Estate sued Johnson for copytight infrigment and to interfere with their business. The only trademarks they still owns are: "Make the change", "Michael", "Gone too soon" and "TGOL".

First Commemorative Inc. vs. Bravado International Group
This case is still ongoing. If you remember, Bravado signed a deal with the above mentioned company to produce and sell official coins with Michael Jackson's face. The business deal failed, the company claimed that Bravado didn't follow the things they agreed on, especially when it came to the promotion of the ready product.
The next hearing will be on October 12, 2011, but good news that the parties successfully mediated the case and in the process of having a settlement.

Furthermore MJ Publishing Trust and Bravado Merchandising Group are included in plenty of cases due to copyright infrigments.

The Michael Jackson Trip 2.

Some more info:

Grammy museum: yesterday I visited the MJ exhibition down on the Olympic Boulvard. MJ has only one wall with appr. 7-9 costumes, majority of them owned by his Estate. Except two suites that is owned by John Branca. On the ground floor in the merchandising store you can get some MJ items licensed by Bravado or the Grammy museum (they are selling posters licensed by MJ Licensing Llc as well, hope the Estate people are aware of this).

Thriller house: the location where the famous video has been shooted is pretty empty now. Actually the house is falling apart and it's hard to even know if you are on the right place. Nothing shows the importance of that place.

Let me know if you would see actual pictures of the places and I will upload them.

The Michael Jackson Trip

I made a trip to California to visit the famous MJ places. Though I can't say anything revealing, I share my experiences here (at the moment I'm sitting in the grass in front of the Neverland gates).

Gardener street elementary school: I was surprised how close it is to the center of Los Angeles. Nothing interesting to say, it's a small downtown school building. MJ' name still uncovered!

Hayvenhurst property: Surprised again. I knew that this compound isn't that big, but it was even hidden under some trees. No sign of fame or rich, all you can see is a big brown gate. Many security cameras, visible alarming system and a note from the local police. That's what shows that something is going on in. Related to the other MJ places Hayvenhurst isn't that "shiny".

Neverland property: I took a helicopter ride over Neverland so I could see everything pretty good. Everything is moved out, no animals either. However the property is in pretty good condition. I have been told that they are working on taking back the train, as well some elments of the entertainment park. Lots of people were moving on the ground, busy working on the renovation. The front gates are just as they are on the pictures. It can be seen that someone is taking care of things here. There is a 24 hours security next to the front gates. To show how busy things are here, two cars were leaving Neverland and a bunch of tourists stopped here over the past 30 minutes (most of them not recognising the gates for first).

Hollywood star: The only star where people gathered on Hollywood Boulvard. And I'm not saying this because I'm a fan of his. People were in lines to take a picture of his star.

Madane Tussaud museum: They have a special tribute to MJ, a room on the second floor filled with 3 MJ figures (little Michael, Bad era, Invincible era). A plate states that MJ was the most portraid in the history of the museum.

Carolwood compound: It's in pretty condition, and under sale. People were busy here as well, cars were coming and going.

Forest Lawn: Beautiful place, however not much to see there. The gates are closed and you can just imagine what is in there (glasses are darkened). Fans were coming and going, some emotional scenes to see there.

Captain EO: It can be found in Disneyland's Tomorrowland section. I attended 2 shows, that ran with almost full house. At the beginning the presenter asked who is an MJ fan: everyone screamed and clapped! The movie itself is good, but of course to see MJ again is what takes your attention. There is a merchandising store next to the theather with t-shirts and caps.

In a nutshell, I see big interest in MJ here, and definiaetly people's opinion just got better of him. There are some people, especially his Estate who are taking care of his legacy. However Neverland has great unused possibilities in my opinion...

Iglesias Aner vs. The Michael Jackson Estate

You might remember for the case filed by Iglesias Aner, claiming that MJ didn't pay the rent fees for one of the homes owned by Iglesias. Here are some more details on the case:

On February 8, 2008 Michael Amir Williams, MJ's personal assistant signed an agreement in MJ's name for leasing the compound under 2710 Palomino Lane, Las Vegas. The term was for the period between March 1, 2008 and August 31, 2008.
On September 6, 2008 Williams notified Iglesias that they would extend the agreement to August 31, 2009. In the light of this, it's interesting to think about what would have happened if MJ would stay in this home...

The premises were vacated and turned over to Iglesias on September 17, 2009. Iglesias claims that everything has been paid until as it has been written in the agreement, however the period between September 1 and 17 wasn't paid. Furthermore he said that when the premises has been vacated the home was damaged.

Iglesias filed a creditors claim in September, 2009 for $324.000, and decided later to sue the MJ Estate because he felt he didn't get any response on time.

In late March the parties agreed that they settle the case out of court.

Michael Jackson Estate vs. Howard Mann

As an interesting twist in the story, Henry Vaccaro's private investigator who found the Jackson memorablia back in 2002 filed a petition in the case. He claims that he is entitled to 14% of anything that comes from the collection. And he doesn't care who pays him, Vaccaro, Howard Mann or the MJ Estate.

Mann and Vaccaro jointly filed an opposition that the investigator doesn't have any interest in the memorablia. However they didn't provide any details.

On the other side the MJ Estate filed papers from the 1996 case where the Judge decided to sell the Jackson family estates, except MJ's and Janet's. Now they say that Vaccaro have not been entitled to get any of MJ's properties, neither he could have sell it.
This means that the MJ Estate changed it's strategy, and now they are going after the previous court decesions, and they want to get all the MJ related items, not only stop Mann and Vaccaro.

The Michael Jackson Estate vs. Howard Mann

Howard Mann's lawyers filed their list of witnesses, what is... the strangest set of people ever seen! Just to name a few:
Dr. Tohme,
Katherine and Joseph Jackson,
All the Jackson siblings,
Henry Vaccaro,
Joel Katz,
Al Malnic,
Didier Witzner (might be Dieter Wiesner :) ),
Brian Oxman,
Adam Streisand,
Longdell MacMillan (aka. Londell McMillan :) ),
Randy Phillips.

They are citing multiple letters between parties like Brett Livingstone-Strong, Henry Lowell and Katherine.

On the other side the MJ Estate named his witnesses as well, where similar names appears, with the addition of Trent Jackson and Melissa Johnson.

The case might go to trial with the estimated start of June 11, 2012.

Steven Echols vs. The Michael Jackson Estate

I have been asked about the Steven Echols vs. The Michael Jackson Estate case. Below you can read some details:

- Echols claimed that he and his company was in contract with MJ as bodyguards between February and December 2008. He said that the invoices has been given to MJ's then people, but not paid at the time of his death in the amount of $300.000

- First the MJ Estate denied all of the claims.

- There are no details about the settlement, however it has been requested by the MJ Estate on the court.

Lloyds vs. AEG Live and The Michael Jackson Company

As the media reported, the Lloyds sued both AEG Live and The Michael Jackson Company this week. Below you may read some details about the case:

- Lloyds and AEG started negotiations for a while about the insurance payments due to MJ's death. But according to Lloyds, AEG refused to handle important documents and informations to them regarding MJ, AEG and Conrad Murray. Therefore Lloyds is not willing to pay any money, or not the full amount.

- The insurance agreement refers to MJ as "Mark Jones" and to his company as "The Mark Jones Company LLC" for privacy reasons.

- Interstingly the agreement was about 30 concerts, therefore MJ planned way more than 10 concerts from the very beginnings. That doesn't support the claims that MJ has been pushed into more concerts without his knowledge.

- According to the agreement there were some restrictions, like Lloyds' representatives should have seen MJ on one of the London rehearsals, as well to see his medical reports. That finally never took place.

- According to the papers MJ hasn't visited any doctors since his 2005 trial than "cosmetic doctors".

- The insurance agreement details how the stage would have been look like, and it's moving parts. As well it lists all the team members appearing on stage.

- It's been planned the MJ will live in a rented place paid by AEG Live UK. He would have been move by 2-3 cars, and the travel time would take 20 to 60 minutes depending on the traffic. He would have been accompanied by Karen Faye, Conrad Murray and his children on occasions. Plus 2-3 bodyguards.

- MJ would have been arrive to the UK on or around 4th of July, 2009 by a private chart. The first rehearsal would have been on the 8th, of July.

- AEG expected 43 million USD in incomes after the first 30 shows.

- MJ did not agree to any "meet and greets" kind of parties.

- Dr. Tohme Tohme was also covered by the policy.

The Michael Jackson Estate vs. Joe Jackson

As the media reported, Bravado International Merchandising Services Inc. sued Julian Rouas. Bravado is licensing the Michael Jackson likeness from the MJ Estate, and Rouas is the partner of Joe Jackson in creating a series of parfumes as announced recently. Because of the close connection between Rouas and Jackson, Bravado most probably consulted with the MJ Estate about launching this case.

The case itself is very similar to the ones that Bravado filed in the past couple of months against plenty of other parties. They are referring to the merchandising deal they have with the MJ Estate, and claiming copyright infrigment. They

Melissa Johnson Tidbit

Melissa Johnson's new lawyer claims that the Michael Jackson Estate tried to "influence the previous attorney with monetary compensation". He furthermore says that Johnson's side will hire more attorneys who have great experience within intellectual propert cases.

Michael Jackson Death Investigation

Until now I didn't pay attention to the case that investigates MJ's death, neither to the circumstances to this sad event. I just decided to make a series of blog posts about this, because now I feel i'm able to talk about this.

If anyone would join in the investigation, and create a reliable source for what happened around MJ's death, send me a message to lesliemjhu@gmail.com
As usually, I won't take anything that's unfounded, unproven or simply is about hate or biase.

Old Projects VI: Go For Your Dreams

To continue this serie I picked up a barely known MJ charity, called "Go For Your Dreams".

The Go For Your Dreams Foundation has been establised on October 10th, 2003. It was a part of MJ's then plans, that some of his close associates shared since then: restart his carrier and make him more accessible for the people.

His comeback of course had to include some charity, as it was a part of his likeness. However Heal The World was already defunct at that time, and Heal The Kids failed also due to his relationship with Shmuley Boteach. So he had to pick up a new name and goals.

The charity has been announced on MJ's 45th public birthday in Los Angeles. Back then he said that he will launch it before the end of the year, and he would mostly not to sponsor others by financially but to help them to reach their goals. His expressed wish was to provide and support youth-oriented educational, charitable and health programs and activities.

It's barely known that MJ released branded bags and caps for the announcement of his new charity. Those items had been distributed amongst the fans whom appeared on the party.

While the charity was in the process of obtaining tax-exempt charitbable status, the 2003 scandals broke off. This meant the end of the majority of MJ's plans from that time, including this foundation. It wouldn't have any good PR afterall, neither MJ had any time to take care of this.

The only public event we know of this charity after the allegations is that MJ's custom made Bently that has been signed by the starts participating in "What More Can I Give" video, has been sold off to support this foundation. The auction has been cancelled once and held in early 2004.

Interesting that a foundation under the same name has been registered within Delaware in late 2006.

The foundation has been renewed early this year and now is managed by the Michael Jackson Estate. This either means some taxation issues or that the MJ Estate has plans with the charity. We will see it soon...