Case 2:18-cv-04761 Document 1 Filed 05/30/18 Page 1 of 18 Page ID #:1 1 KINSELLA WEITZMAN ISER KUMP & ALDISERT LLP Howard Weitzman (SBN 38723) 2 [email protected] Jonathan P. Steinsapir (SBN 226281) 3 [email protected] 808 Wilshire Boulevard, 3rd Floor 4 Santa Monica, California 90401 Telephone: 310.566.9800 5 Facsimile: 310.566.9850 6 Attorneys for Plaintiffs MJJ Productions, Inc., Optimum Productions, Inc., New 7 Horizons Trust III, LLC (d/b/a MIJAC Music), The Michael Jackson Company, 8 LLC, and MJJ Ventures, Inc. LLP 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA LDISERT 11 A WESTERN DIVISION LOOR F & 90401 12 RD 3 , 310.566.9850 UMP UMP 13 AX AX K MJJ PRODUCTIONS, INC., a Case No. F ALIFORNIA • 14 California corporation, OPTIMUM C , OULEVARD SER PRODUCTIONS, INC., a California COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT B I 15 corporation, NEW HORIZONS TRUST INFRINGEMENT ONICA III, LLC, a Delaware limited liability M ILSHIRE 16 company, d/b/a MIJAC MUSIC, THE DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL W MICHAEL JACKSON COMPANY, ANTA EITZMAN EITZMAN 310.566.9800 S 17 LLC, a Delaware limited liability 808 W EL company, and MJJ VENTURES, INC., T 18 a California corporation, 19 Plaintiffs, INSELLA INSELLA K 20 vs. Deadline 21 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, ABC, INC., a 22 Delaware corporation, and DOES 1 through 10, inclusive. 23 Defendants. 24 25 26 27 28 COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Case 2:18-cv-04761 Document 1 Filed 05/30/18 Page 2 of 18 Page ID #:2 1 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 2 1. This is a copyright infringement case by the Estate of Michael Jackson, 3 through various companies, against The Walt Disney Company and ABC, Inc. 4 2. The action arises under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, 17 5 U.S.C. §§ 101, et. seq. This court has original and exclusive jurisdiction pursuant to 6 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a). 7 3. Venue is proper in this judicial district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1400(a), 8 because defendants and their agents reside in, or may be found in, this district. LLP 9 FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS 10 4. The Walt Disney Company is one of the world’s largest media LDISERT 11 conglomerates. Its affiliates include Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel A LOOR F & 90401 12 Entertainment, ESPN, and ABC, Inc. (collectively “Disney”). Disney controls some RD 3 , 310.566.9850 UMP UMP 13 of the most beloved characters and stories in modern culture, such as: Mickey AX AX K F ALIFORNIA • 14 Mouse, Donald Duck, and friends; classic animated films like Peter Pan, C , OULEVARD SER B I 15 Cinderella, Pinocchio, and others; modern classics like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, ONICA M ILSHIRE 16 The Incredibles, and other Pixar movies; the Star Wars franchise; Spiderman, the W ANTA EITZMAN EITZMAN 310.566.9800 S 17 X-Men, and other characters and stories from the world of Marvel Comics; and 808 W EL T 18 ESPN’s popular 30 for 30 documentary series. 19 5. Disney’s media business depends on its intellectual property and, more INSELLA INSELLA K 20 specifically, the copyrights it holds in its well-known characters, motion pictures, Deadline 21 music, and the like. Disney has never been shy about protecting its intellectual 22 property. Indeed, its zeal to protect its own intellectual property from infringements, 23 real or imagined, often knows no bounds. 24 a. Disney has threatened to sue independent childcare centers for 25 having pictures of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on their walls, forcing 26 them to remove all pictures of Mickey or Donald—and other 27 anthropomorphized mice or ducks—rather than face ruinous litigation from 28 one of the world’s largest corporations. 2 COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Case 2:18-cv-04761 Document 1 Filed 05/30/18 Page 3 of 18 Page ID #:3 1 b. Disney once sued a couple on public assistance for $1 million 2 when they appeared at children’s parties dressed as an orange tiger and a blue 3 donkey. Apparently, these costumes cut too close to Tigger and Eeyore for 4 Disney’s tastes. 5 c. Disney takes a very narrow view of copyright law’s “fair use” 6 doctrine. For example, just a few years ago, it sent DMCA takedown notices 7 to Twitter, Facebook, and other websites and webhosts, when consumers 8 posted pictures of new Star Wars toys that the consumers had legally LLP 9 purchased. Apparently, Disney claimed that simple amateur photographs of 10 Star Wars characters in toy form infringed Disney’s copyrights in the LDISERT 11 characters and were not a fair use. A LOOR F & 90401 12 6. In light of all of this, the plaintiffs in this case—various companies that RD 3 , 310.566.9850 UMP UMP 13 comprise a part of the Estate of Michael Jackson (collectively, “the Estate”)—were AX AX K F ALIFORNIA • 14 genuinely shocked when they watched Disney’s prime-time two-hour television C , OULEVARD SER B I 15 program, The Last Days of Michael Jackson, which aired in prime time on ABC on ONICA M ILSHIRE 16 Thursday, March 24, 2018. W ANTA EITZMAN EITZMAN 310.566.9800 S 17 7. Although titled The Last Days of Michael Jackson, the program did not 808 W EL T 18 focus on Michael Jackson’s last days. Rather, it was simply a mediocre look back at 19 Michael Jackson’s life and entertainment career. A Rolling Stone review described INSELLA INSELLA K 20 the program as “offer[ing] little in the way of new revelations or reporting and at Deadline 21 times seems heavy on armchair psychoanalysis and unsupported conjecture.” The 22 magazine was being too generous. The program contained nothing “in the way of 23 new revelations or reporting.” 24 8. Unable to make a compelling presentation about Michael Jackson on its 25 own, Disney decided to exploit the Jackson Estate’s intellectual property without 26 permission or obtaining a license for its use. After all, there there is always a healthy 27 audience for Michael Jackson’s timeless music, his ground-breaking videos, and 28 footage of his unforgettable live performances. Why not just use Michael Jackson’s 3 COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Case 2:18-cv-04761 Document 1 Filed 05/30/18 Page 4 of 18 Page ID #:4 1 works if one can get advertisers to buy time on the program? But in order to use 2 these valuable assets, a license must be obtained for it by the Estate. 3 9. Like Disney, the lifeblood of the Estate’s business is its intellectual 4 property. Yet for some reason, Disney decided it could just use the Estate’s most 5 valuable intellectual property for free. Apparently, Disney’s passion for the 6 copyright laws disappears when it doesn’t involve its own intellectual property and 7 it sees an opportunity to profit off of someone else’s intellectual property without 8 permission or payment. LLP 9 10. The extent of Disney’s use of the Estate’s intellectual property in The 10 Last Days of Michael Jackson is truly astounding. The program used dozens of LDISERT 11 copyrighted works owned by the Estate, but obtained no license. In fact, Disney- A LOOR F & 90401 12 owned ABC never even approached the Estate to seek a license or let the Estate RD 3 , 310.566.9850 UMP UMP 13 know what it was doing. AX AX K F ALIFORNIA • 14 11. In total, the program used at least thirty different copyrighted works C , OULEVARD SER B I 15 owned by the Estate without permission, including but not limited to the following: ONICA M ILSHIRE 16 a. Substantial portions of some of Michael Jackson’s most famous W ANTA EITZMAN EITZMAN 310.566.9800 S 17 music without permission, including Michael’s recordings of songs such as 808 W EL T 18 Billie Jean, Beat It, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, The Girl is Mine, and 19 Leave Me Alone. Disney used this music without obtaining required INSELLA INSELLA K 20 permissions from both the owners of the sound recordings (the Estate) and the Deadline 21 owner of the musical compositions (the Estate for most songs, and third 22 parties for a few others). 23 b. Extensive parts of Michael Jackson’s copyrighted music 24 videos—or “short films” as Michael called them—such as Michael Jackson’s 25 Thriller, Billie Jean, Black or White, and Childhood. The program used, 26 without permission, substantial portions of well over a dozen Michael Jackson 27 music videos without permission from the Estate. 28 4 COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Case 2:18-cv-04761 Document 1 Filed 05/30/18 Page 5 of 18 Page ID #:5 1 c. Considerable parts of Michael Jackson’s copyrighted video 2 productions, including: The Making of Thriller (which has only been released 3 on VHS and has never been released on DVD or any other digital medium) 4 and Dangerous: The Short Films. 5 d. Concert footage owned by the Estate such as the productions 6 Michael Jackson: Live at Wembley and Michael Jackson: Live in Bucharest, 7 along with extensive portions of Michael performing with his brothers on the 8 Triumph tour (the copyrights to which are owned by the Estate). LLP 9 e. Significant parts of the Estate’s critically-acclaimed film, This Is 10 It, the most successful music documentary in history, which was released LDISERT 11 shortly after Michael’s tragic death; and the Estate’s 2016 Spike Lee directed A LOOR F & 90401 12 documentary Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall.