Billie Jean’s not your number
Ruling says Jones wrongly awarded $15.5 million, writes
ACalifornia appeals court has overturned most of a 2017 jury verdict awarding Quincy Jones US$9.4 million ($15.5m) in royalties and fees from the Michael Jackson estate over the use of Jones-produced Jackson hits in the concert film This Is It and two Cirque du Soleil shows.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that the jury misinterpreted a contract that was the judge’s job to interpret anyway. It took away US$6.9m that jurors had said MJJ Productions owed Jones for his work on Billie Jean, Thriller, and more of Jackson’s biggest hits.
The appeals court found the jury wrongly granted Jones money from licensing fees, wrongly went beyond the 10 per cent royalty rate Jones was owed for record sales, and incorrectly granted Jones money for remixes of Jackson’s master recordings.
The court kept intact US$2.5m of the award, which Jones said he was owed for the use of his masters in This Is It and other fees.
It also rejected a counter-appeal from Jones, 87, arguing the trial court should have allowed him to make a claim of financial elder abuse.
“While we disagree with portions of the court’s decision and are evaluating our options . . . we are pleased that the court affirmed the jury’s determination that MJJP failed to pay Quincy Jones more than US$2.5m that it owed him,” said Jones’ attorney, J. Michael Hennigan.
Jones, already a music business giant when he produced the classic Jackson albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad, had sought US$30m from the estate when he first filed in 2013.
“Quincy Jones was the last person we thought would try to take advantage of Michael Jackson by filing a lawsuit three years after he died asking for tens of millions of dollars he wasn’t entitled to,” Jackson attorney Howard Weitzman said. “We knew the verdict was wrong when we heard it, and the court of appeal has completely vindicated us.”
During the trial Jones was asked by Weitzman if he realised he was essentially suing Jackson himself.
Jones angrily disagreed. “I’m not suing Michael, I’m suing you all.”
The trial centred on the definitions of terms in the two contracts Jackson and Jones signed in 1978 and 1985.
Under the deals, for example, Jones is entitled to a share of net receipts from a “videoshow” of the songs. The Jackson lawyers said the term was meant to apply to music videos and not films like This Is It.
The movie was created from rehearsal footage for a comeback tour Jackson was working towards when he died in 2009 at age 50.
“So many people have tried to take advantage of Michael and mischaracterise him since his death,” said Jackson estate co-executor John Branca. “It’s gratifying that in this case the court . . . recognises that Michael Jackson was both an enormous talent and an extremely fair business executive.”