Sunday, March 20, 2011
Fake HTWF: Objection!
New documents have come to light regarding the fake Heal the World Foundation, including damaging documents against Melissa Johnson. The first part of this blog is
here if some did not read it. After I posted this blog, along with many other bloggers and fan sites who believe that Heal the World Foundation is fake, there are still people who believe that Melissa Johnson knew Michael Jackson and that she had his specific blessing in reviving the charity. This blog is here to disprove Johnson's actions, and to show MJ fans that Johnson has nothing but her own pockets in mind with this charity.
I'm going to try to keep these concepts as simplified as possible, even though they are complex. The last blog showed court documents filed by the Estate, and the court docs in this blog will show Johnson's defense to the Estate's charges against her. This blog speaks to Melissa Johnson's declaration in opposition to the Estate's motion for a preliminary injunction against Johnson and (fake) HTWF filed on March 23, 2010:
1. Johnson does claim that she is the president of Heal the World Foundation and "an officer of Defendant United Fleet."
Justice: No objection
2. Johnson claims that she had an "ongoing relationship with Mr. Jackson's management regarding our efforts to preserve various kinds of
intellectual property on Mr. Jackson's behalf and to preserve the charitable initiatives Mr. Jackson started but was unable to further attend during his life."
Justice: Objection! Johnson enters into evidence the following email:
Johnson, in this email, states that she "knew" that Michael would be found not guilty. She also states that she "knew" that Scott Peterson was guilty, and where Lacy Peterson's body was before it was found by the police. (To be fair, there are also copies of emails from Johnson to Vroblesky, Backerman and one from Al Malnik. However, they are mostly unremarkable and do not attest to a "relationship" in business or otherwise pertaining to Jackson.) In this
CBS article, Bain denies ever knowing or doing business with Johnson. In a 2008 email to Vroblesky, Johnson urges Vroblesky to talk to Jackson about an expired domain, stating that "she'd do the work, but he'd (Jackson) would have to pay for it."
3. Johnson states that "beginning in 2002 and 2003, Mr. Jackson's attorneys and management began allowing Mr. Jackson's charity-related federal trademarks registrations and other
intellectual property to expire."
Justice: No objection, as it appears that Johnson bought the domain names herself.
4. Johnson continues by saying that she reached out to Jackson's management but got no response.
Justice: No objection. I do not believe that any of Jackson's management ever initiated contact with her regarding domain, trademark, copyright or any other business relation.
5. Johnson claims that at her own expense, she bought over 900 domain names, "
with the intent to provide them to Mr. Jackson for his use or for his charity and keep them out of the hands of third-party potential cybersquatters or non-Jackson related owners."
Justice: Objection! Johnson
sold over 900 domain names back to MJJ Productions. (Note: the screenshot below names MJJ, meaning MJJ Productions,
not Michael Jackson. This means that Michael Jackson and MJJ Productions were on one side of the litigation table, Johnson was on the other. Michael, through MJJ Productions negotiated with Johnson.)
6. Johnson states that the domain agreement between herself and MJJ productions states that it"protects the efforts of Johnson in securing the Domain Names."
No objection. The agreement states that "Jackson desires to protect the efforts of Johnson in securing the Domain Names from open market, and therefore,
by and through MJJ Productions, agrees to assume ownership and administration of the Domain Names, and agrees to reimburse Johnson for recent and necessary renewal payments..."
7. Johnson admits that she was paid by MJJ Productions for the ownership of the domains, but that it was only necessary due to the fact that she had to renew the domains, so they wouldn't fall into third party's hands.
At the time of the agreement, no objection. The agreement states so itself as of 06/05/03. However, objection to the domain names and trademarks that Johnson bought in 2009. Below is a screenshot of
Michael Jackson's Heal the World Foundation, bought by Johnson in 2009. This screenshot clearly states Michael Jackson's name, and was trademarked in July, 2009 and uses the same address Melissa Johnson uses. There is another trademark made in September of 2009, without Michael Jackson's name, but the same HTWF logo, stating that it sells clothing. You can look up Heal the World Foundation at the US Trademark site
here.
8. Johnson maintains, "in other words, I did not seek to exploit or
profit from the domain names." She goes on to explain that the payment for the domains was made to her family members, who she had borrowed the money from in order to renew the domain names.
Justice: No objection to where the payments went. They went to bank accounts and names that are not Johnson's. However,
OBJECTION! to Johnson's claim that she never intended to exploit or profit from the domain names.
The fake HTWF profit/loss statement in online and you can see it
here. The profit/loss statement clearly states that fake HTWF made over $28,000 in that year. (It also claims a substantial loss, including almost $54,000 bill for payment of domain names.) Even with the loss for fake HTWF (if true), the fact is that they made a
profit from Michael Jackson's name and his charity logo and name. This, Jackson fans, is the problem. Moreover, we all know that Johnson is in business with Mann, and that some of the "events" that have been held have indeed, profitted fake HTWF and Johnson.
9. Johnson claims that the agreement between herself and MJJ Productions states that Jackson would not let the domain names expire for a period of three years. If they did expire, Johnson would have the
first right of refusal, that she would have the option to buy them first.
Justice: Objection based on what year Johnson bought the domains. The agreement specifically states, "if MJJ decides to sell the domain names
prior to the Three Year Mnimum Maintenance Period, Johnson shall have the first right of refusal." Therefore, any domains Johnson bought prior to June 5, 2006, if not renewed by MJJ, Johnson would have had the first option to buy them. After June 5, 2006 MJJ was not legally obligated to tell Johnson they were selling them or letting them expire.
And really, this is besides the fact that Johnson is not allowed to profit from Michael Jackson's name/likeness/image or any other image associated with Jackson.
10. Johnson claims that Jackson's attorneys allowed the domain names to expire, and so she "had" to renew the domain names. Johnson also claims that she did not file a breach of contract, even though she was entitled to per the agreement.
Justice: No objection. Obviously the domain names did expire, however to go through 900 domain names to see when, is exhaustive. I personally didn't see anything in the agreement that gave Johnson the right to sue for breach of contract, but I cannot be 100% positive regarding this.
11. Johnson states that although Jackson's counsel ignored the domains, Johnson "repeatedly renewed them at my own cost or purchased them from third parties and
transferred them back to Jackson."
Justice: Objection! The
only time Johnson ever transferred the domain names back to MJJ Productions was in 2003, and she was repaid for her renewal fees. Johnson did not provide evidence of any other time when she transferred domain names back to MJJ Productions.
12. Johnson claims she had an offer for one of the domain names for $25,ooo, and a copy of an estimation that states that all the domain names are worth in excess of $11 million. Johnson repeats her claim that despite these estimates and offers, she "instead transferred them back to Jackson at no cost."
Johnson claims that she attached offers for the domain names, but I did not see them in the evidence list. Therefore, I can't object to this, but regardless, and again, Melissa Johnson cannot profit from Michael Jackson's name/image/likeness.
13. In 2008, Johnson claims she registered HTWF with the Secretary of State in California at the suggestion of Jackson representative Alexander Vroblesky. She states she
"would not have registed the charity of (her) own initiative."
Justice: Huge objection! Johnson claims herself that she initiated buying domain names and there is no email from Vroblesky stating that he suggested she do that. Johnson clearly contradicts herself here.
14. Johnson states that Vroblesky referred her to attorney, Mark Harrison. Johnson goes on to states that she and Harrison worked together in opposition of third parties trying to register under the name "MJ" and that Harrison was well aware of Johnson's legitimate ties to HTWF.
Justice: Objection. As you can see from the above email from Mark Harrison, he
was under the impression that HTWF was directly related to Michael Jackson and now, to his Estate. Mark Harrison withdrew his position as soon as he realized HTWF was no longer tied to Jackson or the Estate.
15. Lastly, Johnson states that when Michael died, was the first time she was not working for Jackson's associates in years. She also states that "
never have we made or sought to make a profit from such registrations and applications."
A final objection. Of course Johnson sought to make a profit. This has been her scheme all along.
No objection the the fact that the Estate did in fact, win the
preliminary injunction against Johnson and fake HTWF. Judge Dolly Gee stated that fake HTWF had, in fact, misled the consumer into believing that it was related to Michael Jackson. I wholeheartedly agree. There is not
one piece of evidence showing a relationship between Jackson and Johnson. She misled consumers, especially after Jackson died, into contributing to a charity that Jackson was no longer affiliated with.
Posted by Michael Jackson: And Justice for Some at 8:31 PM
1 comments:
RD
http://mjandjustice4some.blogspot.com/2011/03/fake-htwf-objection.html
, and then it makes me :doh:
New documents have come to light regarding the fake Heal the World Foundation, including damaging documents against Melissa Johnson. The first part of this blog is here if some did not read it. After I posted this blog, along with many other bloggers and fan sites who believe that Heal the World Foundation is fake, there are still people who believe that Melissa Johnson knew Michael Jackson and that she had his specific blessing in reviving the charity. This blog is here to disprove Johnson's actions, and to show MJ fans that Johnson has nothing but her own pockets in mind with this charity.
Johnson, in this email, states that she "knew" that Michael would be found not guilty. She also states that she "knew" that Scott Peterson was guilty, and where Lacy Peterson's body was before it was found by the police. (To be fair, there are also copies of emails from Johnson to Vroblesky, Backerman and one from Al Malnik. However, they are mostly unremarkable and do not attest to a "relationship" in business or otherwise pertaining to Jackson.) In this CBS article, Bain denies ever knowing or doing business with Johnson. In a 2008 email to Vroblesky, Johnson urges Vroblesky to talk to Jackson about an expired domain, stating that "she'd do the work, but he'd (Jackson) would have to pay for it."
6. Johnson states that the domain agreement between herself and MJJ productions states that it"protects the efforts of Johnson in securing the Domain Names."
8. Johnson maintains, "in other words, I did not seek to exploit or profit from the domain names." She goes on to explain that the payment for the domains was made to her family members, who she had borrowed the money from in order to renew the domain names.
