This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Pro, bringing you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important decisions and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A legal battle between Michael Jackson's mother and his estate over a huge settlement. a ruling on Metallica's COVID lawsuit citing Taylor Swift; a new first-of-its-kind statute in Tennessee targeting AI-generated deepfakes. and many more.
THE BIG STORY: Jackson Family Feud
Fifteen years after Michael Jackson's death, his mother is locked in an increasingly bitter legal battle with his estate — and, as of last week, with her grandson.
The trouble began last year, when Katherine Jackson filed legal objections to an unspecified transaction proposed by the estate. The disputed deal was not specifically named in the filings, but it appears to be the estimated $600 million catalog deal with Sony Music first reported by Advertising sign last month. A judge dismissed those complaints in April 2023, but Katherine is now fighting to overturn that decision in a California appeals court.
Why the sudden flashpoint last week? Because Katherine is asking the estate to pay for the legal bills she incurred during her objections — a request that drew sharp rebukes.
One came from Michael's son Bigi Jackson, who says Katherine's continued objections to the Sony deal are a “waste” of time and that it would be “unfair” to make him and his siblings foot the bill for ' they. Another came from estate executors John Branca and John McClain, who say the estate has already paid the elder Jackson more than $55 million since Michael's death and should not have to pay for her “frivolous” appeal.
Go read our full stories about Bigi's objections and pushback from the performers, and stay tuned for how it all unfolds…
Other top stories this week…
METALLICA, COVID AND… TAYLOR? – Judges can be Swifties too. In an unusual ruling heralded by Taylor Swift's “All Too Well,” a California appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit by the band Metallica that demanded the insurance company pay more than $3 million in damages stemming from concerts canceled due to COVID -19 pandemic. The case is one of numerous lawsuits, many of them unsuccessful, aimed at forcing insurance companies to pay for losses caused by pandemic cancellations.
DIDDY'S HOUSES WERE TAKEN – Law enforcement agents reportedly searched homes owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami as part of an ongoing sex-trafficking probe led by federal prosecutors in New York. The federal raids came amid a flurry of sexual assault lawsuits against the hip-hop mogul — allegations Combs has vehemently denied. It is unclear whether the rapper himself is the target of the federal investigation.
NEW AI VOICE STATUS – Tennessee enacted a first-in-the-nation law aimed at protecting music artists and others from so-called deep fakes generated by artificial intelligence — an issue that has concerned the industry since a fake Drake song went viral last year . The new law – the Voice and Image Assurance Act, or ELVIS Act – updates existing state rules on image and likeness rights by explicitly including a person's voice for the first time.
FIRED VICTORY? – Six months after Sam Smith and Normani defeated a copyright lawsuit claiming they stole elements of their 2019 hit 'Dancing With a Stranger' from an earlier track, a federal judge has refused to make their accuser pay legal fees that they spent on the case — a bill the stars say topped $700,000. Although unsuccessful, the judge ruled that the case was “neither frivolous nor objectively unreasonable”.
