Re: Katherine Jackson documentary called "Remembering Michael"/ fans asked to help with funding
Excuse me for quoting myself but now we know Mann is behind this how do they get about this apparent ban. Do they have permission?
It's made very clear in the statements they've put out that the project producers intend to pay the estate for any licensing using fans money, so i guess they know they can't bypass that. I didn't understand the howard mann settlement to be a ban, just that he didn't have copyright over the things he had in his collection, that belonged to the estate.
When I have time I'll go back and read the Mann lawsuit documents but I don't think Estate complained about the pictures , their main complaints were 5 drawings, TII and Thriller use, Smooth Criminal Lean in the logo, Destiny Remix and the confusion they created with the book and making it seem like it was Estate approved / endorsed. At the end there was a settlement and a court ruling that Estate still has Michael's intellectual property and the famous auction that Vaccaro got the items from didn't give him the copyrights.
As I said before technically they can do a documentary without infringing any copyrights & trademarks. There's nothing stopping them from taping their own interviews and release it. As they are trying to collect for licensing fees it seems like they are planning to pay for any copyrighted item they use, so legally they could be in the clear.
Normally pictures are the copyright of the photographer unless they were work for hire. It was claimed Joe hired a photographer hence he might own the photos or they could be cleared with the photographers. They don't use "Michael Jackson" and the poster is a drawing to get around image and likeliness issues. The only problematic thing for now seems to be the use of "King of Pop" and "Immortal". King of Pop is the Estate's trademark. Immortal was trademarked by Cirque.
Maybe they have already contacted the estate, stranger things have happened.
The word on the street is that this project doesn't have Estate's blessing. Friedman claims Estate was unaware. So I don't think this is something that was discussed with the Estate but as I said it might not been required either. As long as they don't infringe copyrights / trademarks they might not need Estate's approval or permission.
It is up to fans to NOT support Mann/Lowe's scheme.
I would like to see the finished documentary. They do not need Michael's music to complete it. If the documentary is completed, release it.
I'm confused now. You don't want the fans to support Mann for the $3.2 M but you'll be willing to watch and pay for the documentary - which Katherine only gets 25% of the profits and Mann/Vaccaro and the rest gets the 75%. Isn't that also supporting Mann/Vaccaro schemes?
So far there is no evidence to show that Katherine does not support this, (I hope she isn't), I agree certain aspects are suspicious, the signature for example plus the seemingly cut and paste introduction video. But Katherine does mention the five year anniversary and even if Katherine was not free to speak up other family members are. Katherine could break the contract, yes she could be sued but I'm sure she could win.Edit Plus Mann was still around during the AEG trial.
The problem is Katherine went into business with Mann in the first place.
This insanity didn't happen in a vacuum.
To be honest, personally I don't get this Katherine is being manipulated or forced claims. She has signed a contract with Mann and she had made no attempts to get out of it. During Estate's lawsuit she sided with Mann and did not sever her ties with him - yes he was still around right before AEG trial start. So I don't get where any fan is getting the basis for claiming Katherine isn't happy with Mann contract and just fulfilling her duties and such. It's possible to walk away from a contract, it is possible to not fulfill a contract sure there would have been breach of contract lawsuits but I imagine Estate would have helped with that as they helped with Katherine's breach of contract issue with the Segye Times.
Katherine is on a video asking for fans help. That's enough for me to think that she's a willing participant in this thing. I think she probably has good intentions and wants to remember her son but also misguided in regards to some of her business partners and projects. I don't think she's being forced to do anything. That's my opinion. Everyone is free to disagree.
And we are pass the 24 hrs mark, no one from Katherine's camp is denouncing this, it is getting quite media coverage - all entertainment programs in USA mentioned it. I personally emailed 2 of her lawyers and they haven't responded. So officially this is a Katherine Jackson project that she's endorsing and actively participating. It's just some fans that are claiming that she's an unwilling participant.
well, if moderators and admins of this forum are still looking for proof that this whole thing is a SCAM, they should not look any further.
per MJJC rules no solicitation for money is allowed hence the links to the fundraising was removed. The only confirmation we were looking for was in regards to how to classify this and which forum to place it. True or false, there are claims that Katherine might not be a willing participant as mentioned before. So regardless of what we think (I don't believe it for example) it was our duty to try to confirm it before we can place this thread in "news" section. As long as it's not confirmed it will be a "controversy".
