MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro - Settlement reached

[Big Apple2]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Poor Howard Mann!

He really thought that by hooking up with Mother, he would soon be listed as an instant MULTI-millionaire. LOL! Homeboy got played in a big way.

Folks need to learn, once and for all, that messing with The Estate of Michael Jackson can only lead to a very bad, AND VERY EXPENSIVE, outcome.

 

[Bubs]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Yep! In my opinion, sooner OR later "somebody" is going to go after Ms. Katherine and/or other members of the family, because they continue to get involved with these shady deals, but when the crap hits the fan, it's the OTHER party who catches the heat, i.e. the perfume guy, the bogus MJ tribute folks, the fake Heal The World lady, and now Howard Mann.

Those Jacksons are sly little something or others (LOL), but sooner or later they TOO will have to pay for their participation in all of these shady deals.

I was thinking earlier that this case will teach to these crooks and some of the Jackson's not to start any businesses without the estate's permission, come to think about it, it doesn't. There is always some fool trying to make money out of someone else's backside, be it family member or outsider.
Hopefully nobody goes on business with Jackson's anymore, they will end up in court as a result.

 

[ivy]

Michael Jackson's Estate Settles Copyright Lawsuit Against Howard Mann For $2.5 Million Dollars

By Jen Heger - Radar Assistant Managing Editor

Lawyers for Michael Jackson's estate and Howard Mann, who was working with Katherine Jackson on several business deals, have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit for $2.5 million dollars, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

As previously reported, Michael's estate filed a lawsuit against Howard in 2011 for copyright infringement, claiming all the assets are owned by the estate for the benefit of his children and mother, after Mann established an unauthorized website hawking previously unreleased Michael Jackson songs and photographs.

Two weeks ago, a Federal Court judge ruled that Mann cannot exploit intellectual property created by the late Michael Jackson. The ruling stated that he violated Michael's copyright, including trademarks, copyrights, name, likeness and image.

The court also found that Howard and his entities improperly claimed to own the assets and intended in bad faith to profit from them using his various websites.

The trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday, however, a settlement was announced between Mann and the Estate before proceedings commenced.

"Given the court's summary judgment ruling this settlement seems to be in each party's interest," Howard Weitzman, a lawyer for Michael Jackson's Estate told RadarOnline.com exclusively.

Under terms of the settlement, Mann and his businesses are strictly prohibited from using Michael Jackson's name/image without the explicit consent of the Estate. According to the Associated Press, "Mann is the CEO of Vintage Pop Media, which operated the website until it was ordered shut down last month by a federal judge who ruled the site violated copyrights controlled by the singer’s estate. Vintage Pop Media Group is responsible for $2 million of the judgment, while the entity Vintage Associates LLC is responsible for the remainder. Vintage Associates is the custodian of the items that were at issue in the case."

Another defendant in the case was ordered to pay $500k to the estate.

Katherine Jackson and Mann collaborated on a coffee table book in which the family matriarch reflected on her son, Michael Jackson, who died on June 25, 2009 of acute propofol intoxication. Mrs. Jackson wasn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit against Howard Mann.

Interestingly, Mann was introduced to Katherine, by son, Randy Jackson, who has been very vocal in his belief that Michael's will was fraudulent and has wanted the executors to resign.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/09/michael-jackson-estate-copyright-lawsuit-howard-mann

 

[Soundmind]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

I wouldn't be surprised if Mann sued Katherine soon

and I would not be surprised if she asked the estate to cover the judgement against her

 

[Petrarose]

Mann’s lawyers have sought to introduce evidence that they were given bad legal advice about having to license the works, and have considered calling Katherine Jackson as a witness. The Jackson family matriarch is one of the beneficiaries of the singer’s estate, along with his three children.

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson has noted that Mann doesn’t appear to have the resources to pay a large judgment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enter...45ab2a-f66e-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html

^^This is the first time I see that they were thinking of calling Katherine as a witness and blaming her. I know we were wondering if they would try to sue her later. Well it is not the estate's porblem that they received bad advice, not that I believe that. Mann simple saw an opportunity to exploit Michael and did so with the help of Katherine.

I see a settlement has been reached. It is a pity they did not ask back for Michael's belongings as part of the settlement. I would like to see payment of 5 mill plus all merchandise returned.

If Katherine is sued, all she will do is ask for some more money, and since Michael's wishes were to take care of her needs, she would get it. She really does not face any consequences for her negative actions, because she can be bailed out of her disasters by the estate, so why should she worry if much of the inheritance go to lawyers and crooks?

 

[Aquarius]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Is 2.5 mil enough to stop other from using Michael's name & likeness?

It's funny how the Jackson get into these businesses & never get hurt.

 

[Nathy MJ]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

^^This is the first time I see that they were thinking of calling Katherine as a witness and blaming her. I know we were wondering if they would try to sue her later. Well it is not the estate's porblem that they received bad advice, not that I believe that. Mann simple saw an opportunity to exploit Michael and did so with the help of Katherine.

I see a settlement has been reached. It is a pity they did not ask back for Michael's belongings as part of the settlement. I would like to see payment of 5 mill plus all merchandise returned.

If Katherine is sued, all she will do is ask for some more money, and since Michael's wishes were to take care of her needs, she would get it. She really does not face any consequences for her negative actions, because she can be bailed out of her disasters by the estate, so why should she worry if much of the inheritance go to lawyers and crooks?

The judge noted that Mann does not have money to pay the judgment. So If they don't pay, maybe the estate can go back to court and ask for Michael's belongings instead of the money.

 

[passy001]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Michael Jackson copyright dispute settled
By Alan Duke, CNN
September 5, 2012 -- Updated 0014 GMT (0814 HKT)

Los Angeles (CNN) -- A bitter legal dispute between Michael Jackson's estate and a business partner of the late pop icon's mother was settled Tuesday, just before a trial on the matter was to begin, lawyers said.
In the end, the lawyer for Katherine Jackson, who was not a party to the lawsuit, mediated the agreement, which gives the estate $2.5 million from the several companies involved.
A federal judge had already ruled that Howard Mann and several associated companies violated Jackson's copyrights, which are controlled by his estate executors, and the only question for a jury was how much should be paid in damages.
"In light of the court's rulings for the estate on summary judgment, this settlement seems appropriate for all concerned," estate lawyers Howard Weitzman and Zia Modabber said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday.
Mann's company published Katherine Jackson's 150-page coffee table book "Never Can Say Goodbye, The Katherine Jackson Story" two years ago and established a website -- MichaelJacksonSecretVault.com -- that the estate argued illegally used Jackson's images and lyrics.
"This was a long, complex and difficult litigation that in the end will likely be equitable for Mrs. Jackson and the other parties involved," Mann said. "This settlement would not have been possible without Perry Sanders (Katherine Jackson's lawyer), who worked to bridge quite a distance."
"I really really appreciated the reasonableness of all parties involved, and everyone is served well by getting this wrapped up," said Sanders, who helped mediate the settlement this week.
The resolution of the dispute represents a new twist in the contentious relationship between the executors who control Michael Jackson's estate and the members of the Jackson family and some of their business associates.
Mann's involvement with the Jacksons began when he partnered with Henry Vaccaro, who bought a large amount of Jackson memorabilia purchased at an auction after Katherine and Joe Jackson's 1999 bankruptcy. A lien will be placed on those photos and other assets until a portion of the settlement is paid, a lawyer said.
Katherine Jackson was not a defendant, but her name and those of her husband, Joe Jackson, and children Janet, Randy, Tito and Jermaine Jackson were on the defense witness list.
The estate accused Mann of "wholesale misappropriation" of Michael Jackson copyrights and acting with "arrogant disregard" for the estate's rights by using unauthorized images
While the estate claimed the book sold about 25,000 copies for $1.5 million in the first two days, Mann's lawyers contended "actual sales are very minimal and the defendant's businesses have suffered a major net loss."
The copyright violations also included screen shots from the "This Is It" documentary about the singer's last days and other "misappropriated" images, including Jackson's "Smooth Criminal Lean," which Mann's company used in its corporate logo.
Mann's website, which the judge already ordered to be taken offline, "does absolutely everything in its power to suggest to its visitors that it is the hub for all things Michael Jackson, and that it is sanctioned and supported by the estate, when in fact it is neither," the estate argued.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/04/showbiz/michael-jackson-copyright-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

 

[Petrarose]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Michael Jackson copyright dispute settled
By Alan Duke, CNN
September 5, 2012 -- Updated 0014 GMT (0814 HKT)

"This was a long, complex and difficult litigation that in the end will likely be equitable for Mrs. Jackson and the other parties involved," Mann said. "This settlement would not have been possible without Perry Sanders (Katherine Jackson's lawyer), who worked to bridge quite a distance."
"I really really appreciated the reasonableness of all parties involved, and everyone is served well by getting this wrapped up," said Sanders, who helped mediate the settlement this week.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/04/showbiz/michael-jackson-copyright-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Please, that Sanders lawyer irritates me. His client caused all this trouble and costs. Then look how Mann prolonged this case and kept claiming he had new evidence and tried to bring the will in, and we have Sanders saying he appreciates the reasonableness of all parties involved. How was Mann reasonable? He never conceded he was wrong and the settlement is small. His comments during the granny snatching was just as lacking to me. Most likely he helped with keeping the settlement low as a favor to Mann, so he would not go after Katherine.

 

[Bonnie Blue]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Just checked, mann was offered a $2m settlement last week by the estate and didn't take it and now the price went up $500k. Serves him right.

^ Sanders irritates me too, but i guess it could be his client i find irritating. i don't think it can be a picnic dealing with mrs j, who seems to be a magnet for shady dealers introduced to her by her family. It must be a bit of a nightmare trying to talk sense into her and trying to keep her relationship with the estate sweet. Anyway i'm sure he's handsomely recompensed for his troubles, so i don't feel too sorry for him, lol.

 

[Aquarius]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

^^ Right. I trully think Sanders doesn't care much about his client. As long as Katherine keeps him busy with her dealing, he will be collecting money.

 

[Rhilo]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

Ha! Serve that asshat right

 

[bluesky]

September 12, 2012

Buyers of Michael Jackson's Assets from a Storage Locker Auction Can't Set Up Paywalled Tribute Website--Branca v. Mann

[Post by Jake McGowan]
Branca v. Mann, CV 11-00584 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2012)

When a celebrity goes bankrupt or forgets to pay a bill for his/her physical-space storage locker, opportunists may swoop in and purchase the goods so they can try and turn a profit reselling them. But sometimes, these buyers get a little overzealous--they convince themselves that their interest in the tangible property gives them an interest in some of the celebrity’s underlying intellectual property rights. This leads to poorly designed pay-for-access websites with risqué names like “parisexposed.com.”

A district court in California heard one of these storage locker disputes in Branca v. Mann, where the defendants set up a pay-for-access website relating to the late Michael Jackson. The court lowered the boom on August 10th, granting summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs for a long list of claims including copyright infringement, false designation of origin, misappropriation of likeness, cybersquatting, and so on.

Background
The Jacksons have been blessed with many talents, but financial management is not one of them.

Toni Sanchez Poy / Shutterstock.com

In the late nineties, Michael Jackson’s parents and two of his brothers owed money to a company owned by one of the defendants. To collect on the debt, the company found a storage facility with Jackson family memorabilia and sought to authorize a bankruptcy sale including photographs and audio recordings found in the storage facility (the “Subject Property”). Jackson tried to block the sale, but the defendants ended up buying the Estate’s right, title and interest in the Subject Property.

In 2004, some of the defendants in this suit created a pay-for-access website using Jackson’s name, likeness, photographs and other copyrighted material from the bankruptcy sale. Jackson fired back, filing a suit alleging copyright infringement, false designation of origin, cybersquatting, and misappropriation of likeness. The court granted a preliminary injunction, but dismissed the action with prejudice in ’06 after Jackson failed to prosecute. If you recall, Jackson’s legal team was a little busy at the time.

Jackson died in 2009 and the defendants tried to cash in, creating new websites and selling access to more of Jackson’s copyright-protected material. Jackson’s lawyers promptly threw the kitchen sink at them, filing a suit alleging copyright infringement, false designation of origin, cybersquatting, cyber piracy, misappropriation of likeness, and unfair competition. They asked for declaratory relief, along with an accounting of how much defendants profited from the alleged unauthorized use and a permanent injunction.

The district court sided with Jackson’s estate, granting summary judgment on almost every claim. The key question in this case, however, was whether the defendants’ purchase of the “Subject Property” granted them any interest that would justify their pay-for-access website.

Defendants Did Not Acquire IP Rights Through Bankruptcy Sale

The defendants argued that they acquired an interest in Jackson’s IP rights through the original bankruptcy sale. In support, they pointed to a 7th Circuit decision which held that a sale agreement need not include the exact word “copyright” to transfer an interest in the corresponding IP rights. The court distinguished the 7th Circuit case:

Language in the bankruptcy court’s order and from an exchange between the lawyers and the bankruptcy judge also made clear that the sale had transferred intellectual property rights. Here, to the contrary, none of the facts surrounding the sale of Debtors’ personal property from a storage facility indicate a transfer of any intellectual property rights.

​

Ultimately, the court held that the bankruptcy sale covered only the personal property of the Jackson debtors, and did not transfer any rights, title, or interest to Michael Jackson’s intellectual property.
[Eric's note: on the copyright front, this seems like a trivially easy 17 USC 202 case.]
___
This is a great example of the conceptual difficulties that arise when intangible property is embedded in tangible property, like a cassette tape. After all, the Jacksons’ storage locker contained valuable, unreleased audio recordings alongside the other tangible property. Many non-lawyers might believe that by purchasing the locker, they purchasedeverything, including the intangible property contained on tangible property. Although the physical tapes are somewhat valuable in a memorabiliasense, the true value lies in the rights to copy and distribute the song itself. But the tapes are merely a medium for the combination of protected musical tones and lyrics--they don't grant those rights. They shouldn't grant those rights, because it would not be fair to allow the songs to leak simply because they were on the wrong cassette at the wrong time.

Now imagine that the storage locker contained only tapes, and the defendants paid thousands of dollars. If they can’t distribute the songs on the tapes, why did they invest in the first place? They could try and recoup by selling the tapes as memorabilia, but really maybe they just made a bad investment due to a legal error.


Posted by JakeMcGowan at September 12, 2012 07:02 AM | Copyright


http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2012/09/buyers_of_micha.htm

 

[Petrarose]

Re: MJ Estate Sues Howard Mann and business partner Henry Vaccaro

^^Yeah. Everyone knows this except Mann, and after the court and estate lawyers explained it to him, he still did not get it. Expect to see him leaking more emails for Katherine and co.