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Quincy Jones sues Michael Jackson’s estate over royalties

Parties asked for another delay for the trial start date. They will try mediation.
 
Mediation is a good choice. Hopefully the parties will choose settlement over trial.
 
barbee0715 said:
??You would think they would have been doing mediation already!!
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well they did initial discovery, exchanged documents with each other and apparently doing an audit. I guess they wanted to understand where they stand before they sit down and talk about it.
 
Parties once again having discovery disputes and they asked for another extension/delay. New trial date is March 2016.
 
Ivy any clues on what the discovery disputes is?

Everytime i come into this thread to get a updated it just break my heart to see Quincy doing this to Michael after he is gone. It would have been better if Quincy would have tooking care of this when Michael was alive it is just so sad to see this. :(
 
pminton said:
Ivy any clues on what the discovery disputes is?

Everytime i come into this thread to get a updated it just break my heart to see Quincy doing this to Michael after he is gone. It would have been better if Quincy would have tooking care of this when Michael was alive it is just so sad to see this. :(
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It's not about issues when MJ was alive. It's about This Is It and Immortal.
 
Ivy, do you have any new info regarding this case?

I was looking case stuff and there was hearing yesterday
02/08/2016 Order (GRANTING EX PARTE FOR ORDER SETTING THE HEARING ON MOTION TO BIFURCATE AND MOTION TO COMPEL )
Filed by Attorney for Defendant/Respondent

I googled that bifurcate thingy and it means something like splitting one case in two separate
http://definitions.uslegal.com/b/bifurcate/
 
yeah,

the discovery disputes are still ongoing. jones want to amend his complaint, defendants object. defendants have filed a summary judgment motion, jones object.

and bifurcate motion is to split the trial into two parts. liability and damages. They argue that damages is a very complex issue with a lot of accounting involved and could confuse and /or bias the jurors. so they want a trial for liability first. and if they are found liable, a second trial to determine the damages.
 
Amend his complaint after all this time! Dont tell he suddenly remembers things...
 
^^He might suffers from memory loss or some sort of Alzheimer.
I remember his interview with Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/music/20...s-michael-jackson-thriller-producer-interview

He claims in it that Bono started Live Aid :bugeyed so who knows


Anyways, maybe he/they want to add more to their claims as the estate have put out more stuff since Quincy filed this lawsuit.


Ivy, under the proceedings, there is "Motion for terminating sanctions" mentioned a good few times, do you know who got sanctioned and why?
 
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^^

Those are related to the discovery. whenever the parties cannot get answer to their discovery requests, they file motions, asking for sanctions and so on. I think they had discovery disputes 3-4 times.
 
Quincy Jones' Lawsuit Against Michael Jackson Estate to Go to Trial
The legendary producer sued the artist's estate and Sony in 2013, claiming he was shorted royalties from posthumous releases.


The legendary producer sued the artist's estate and Sony in 2013, claiming he was shorted royalties from posthumous releases.
A $10 million lawsuit filed by 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."

Defense counsel Zia F. Modabber argues "their position is they have the perpetual right to not have anyone else touch it without Mr. Jones' permission" although for years Jones did not complain about others remixing songs he produced for Jackson.

Modabber asked the court to remove Sony from the lawsuit on the grounds that any money paid to Jones would come from MMJ, not Sony, but Stern denied that request.

Stern also denied Gradstein's motion to amend their complaint saying "we've come too far" to make tweaks that aren't consequential.

It's also worth mentioning that of all the world famous songs at issue in this case Stern said he's only ever heard of one -- although he didn't specify which.

After the hearing Gradstein said "Quincy has a righteous case" and defendants' efforts to block it from proceeding to a jury were a "complete and utter failure."

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.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/quincy-jones-lawsuit-michael-jackson-869579
 
respect77;4115467 said:
It's not about issues when MJ was alive. It's about This Is It and Immortal.
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Yes, it is about This Is It and Immortal, Michael Jackson One and 25th anniversary edition of Bad, it’s about all royalties from posthumous releases…
And how is that? Haven’t there been a lot of remixes through all these years even before 2009. IMO, I doubt that every single time everyone asked Jones for any permissions and that he actually cared.

I do not like what he is doing and I guess the Estate could settle it easily but they did not for a reason. Well, we’ll see.
 
Allusio;4138057 said:
Haven’t there been a lot of remixes through all these years even before 2009. IMO, I doubt that every single time everyone asked Jones for any permissions and that he actually cared.
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Yes, the Estate lawyer said that too apparently:

Defense counsel Zia F. Modabber argues "their position is they have the perpetual right to not have anyone else touch it without Mr. Jones' permission" although for years Jones did not complain about others remixing songs he produced for Jackson.
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I don't know if MJ asked his permission at some time or it's just that these lawyers who seem to be ambulance chasing against MJ's Estate (same ones who represent Robson and Safechuck) talked him into this lawsuit now.
 
Allusio;4138057 said:
And how is that? Haven’t there been a lot of remixes through all these years even before 2009. IMO, I doubt that every single time everyone asked Jones for any permissions and that he actually cared.
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Apart from generic unofficial Club/DJ remixes, were there that many remixes of Thriller? I know there's the megamix on the King of Pop compilation and the remixes on Thriller 25, but that's all I can think of.

If that agreement was signed, I'm pretty sure they would go to Quincy each time, I don't think it's something Quincy would forget or ignore especially for a giant reissue such as Thriller 25. I'm interested to see how this ends up, if Quincy is truly owed money/compensation then I believe he deserves it.

I hope this gets over soon as well and that they get back on better terms, it's sad to see perhaps the most brilliant producer MJ worked with be at odds with his Estate.
 
HIStoric;4138088 said:
Apart from generic unofficial Club/DJ remixes, were there that many remixes of Thriller? I know there's the megamix on the King of Pop compilation and the remixes on Thriller 25, but that's all I can think of.

If that agreement was signed, I'm pretty sure they would go to Quincy each time, I don't think it's something Quincy would forget or ignore especially for a giant reissue such as Thriller 25. I'm interested to see how this ends up, if Quincy is truly owed money/compensation then I believe he deserves it.

I hope this gets over soon as well and that they get back on better terms, it's sad to see perhaps the most brilliant producer MJ worked with be at odds with his Estate.
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I understand but I guess we will get more information with time.

It’s also strange that the Estate would forget to pay and refuse to pay if it’s due. IMO, it could be settled but somehow they ready to go on trial for this.

IMO, the Estate and Quincy will never get back to better terms, after it all ends they probably will ignore each other… If there could be a chance for normal partnership – there would be a settlement.

But one part has done an awful mistake… whether it is the Estate, somehow money is way more important for them than their reputation (that is hard for me to believe in it) or it is Quincy needs more money that he knew he won’t get if simply ask for it. So we have this trial.
Well, I know nothing, time will tell.
 
HIStoric said:
Apart from generic unofficial Club/DJ remixes, were there that many remixes of Thriller? I know there's the megamix on the King of Pop compilation and the remixes on Thriller 25, but that's all I can think of.
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The tracks from Off The Wall and Thriller were remixed by a lot of high-profile dance acts in the 90s and released with many of the HIStory singles in Europe.

Unless you meant the actual song Thriller, in which case I'll be quiet :D
 
It’s also strange that the Estate would forget to pay and refuse to pay if it’s due. IMO, it could be settled but somehow they ready to go on trial for this.
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That says aot to me. The estate has had no problem in the past paying out legitimate claims yet not this time. And robsons lawyer being involved is a red flag to say the least
 
ChrisC;4138097 said:
The tracks from Off The Wall and Thriller were remixed by a lot of high-profile dance acts in the 90s and released with many of the HIStory singles in Europe.

Unless you meant the actual song Thriller, in which case I'll be quiet :D
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Yeah I meant all of the Quincy albums which seem to be covered by this deal. I'm not entirely sure what to think, I imagine for those 90s mixes, the artists would approach Epic/MJJ Productions and ask for the license to remix the song, Epic/MJJ would then ask Quincy who probably wasn't interested in remixing those sort of remixes and gave the go-ahead, then Epic/MJJ gave permission.

I can definitely see Quincy being more interested in remixing songs that'll be used by MJ/his estate himself and thus super high profile (Thriller 25, TII, Immortal), rather than some random club remix by some European dance artist in the 1990s. I really only speculating here, like others have said, we'll get more information as this agreement goes on.

Interested to see how it turns out though.

elusive moonwalker;4138100 said:
It’s also strange that the Estate would forget to pay and refuse to pay if it’s due. IMO, it could be settled but somehow they ready to go on trial for this.
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Maybe the Estate didn't pay on time, in which case Quincy is asking for more to compensate the late payment, the Estate refuse to pay more than what Quincy was originally getting and here we are in court. Haha who knows, once again I'm just speculating ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Actually we know some stuff from the documents.

There have been remixes and album releases in the past when Quincy didn't make any claims. He only made this claims after MJ's death. This is not about forgetting to pay. Quincy was paid his royalties. He is however claiming he was supposed to be offered to remix these songs and then paid for that work.

The reason this goes to trial is that Quincy is claiming he has to be given first right to remix his songs and they need his permission to release his songs with other songs. What that means is that Quincy would control his songs - such as neither Cirque or Ba 25 albums could have been done without his permission and paying him extra. Obviously Estate isn't happy with Quincy's interpretation of the contract that would give Quincy control over these songs for forever.
 
ivy said:
Actually we know some stuff from the documents.

There have been remixes and album releases in the past when Quincy didn't make any claims. He only made this claims after MJ's death. This is not about forgetting to pay. Quincy was paid his royalties. He is however claiming he was supposed to be offered to remix these songs and then paid for that work.

The reason this goes to trial is that Quincy is claiming he has to be given first right to remix his songs and they need his permission to release his songs with other songs. What that means is that Quincy would control his songs - such as neither Cirque or Ba 25 albums could have been done without his permission and paying him extra. Obviously Estate isn't happy with Quincy's interpretation of the contract that would give Quincy control over these songs for forever.
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Does the estate have proof that he's not supposed to have control forever? since they refused to compensate him it seems they are ready for a trial. I think the estate believes that Quincy has already been compensated and that Quincy never said one word before and that this didn't come up until MJ died. I hope the estate wins.. Quincy has been acting like a shady queen over the past few years since MJ's death.
 
ivy said:
Actually we know some stuff from the documents.

There have been remixes and album releases in the past when Quincy didn't make any claims. He only made this claims after MJ's death. This is not about forgetting to pay. Quincy was paid his royalties. He is however claiming he was supposed to be offered to remix these songs and then paid for that work.

The reason this goes to trial is that Quincy is claiming he has to be given first right to remix his songs and they need his permission to release his songs with other songs. What that means is that Quincy would control his songs - such as neither Cirque or Ba 25 albums could have been done without his permission and paying him extra. Obviously Estate isn't happy with Quincy's interpretation of the contract that would give Quincy control over these songs for forever.
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Informative. Thanks!
 
To be honest, all thing that Quincy to be the first for the right to remix his songs, sounds strange to me.
Idk, what contract actually states but it sounds very much ridiculous.

If with help of this trial the Estate will be able to escape this “forever”, I’ll be very happy.
 
I hope he gets money that belongs to him but it doesn't sounds right that he has to be offered first to remix the songs. If the contract doesn't say that then Estate is going to win.
 
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