“Big Boy” Estate not happy!

The Michael Jackson Estate is not happy about the digital sale of “Big Boy” recording by Swedish company called “Anotherblock” which we talked about last November.

The Estate’s lawyer Jonathan Steinsapir sent a letter to Anotherblock stated that the company might “expose them to liability to the Michael Jackson Estate”. He warned that the estate owns all rights to Jackson’s name, image and likeness rights, along with his trademarks. “Given this,” Steinsapir wrote, “any use of Michael’s name, image, and likeness in marketing, advertising or in the product itself violates the Jackson Estate’s rights.”

The estate warned that whatever deals anotherblock had struck to facilitate the “Big Boy” sale could be invalid if they covered rights that were controlled solely by Michael’s estate, like his trademark rights. And the estate’s lawyers strongly questioned the claim that the “One-derful Version” was Jackson’s first studio recording.

Adding, “We have no information to confirm that the unreleased recordings you are making available are in fact the first time Michael Jackson’s ‘voice was put on tape’ or even that it was the first time he recorded in a studio at all,” the estate’s attorney wrote. “Indeed, we have good reason to believe that this is not the first time Michael Jackson ever recorded in a studio. Because of that, you are likely misleading the public.”

The estate also sharply criticized the decision to publish previously unreleased songs, telling Anotherblock that Michael Jackson “was the consummate perfectionist” and that he had been “very careful about what recordings he released to the public.”

“Because of this, we have serious doubts that Michael would have ever wanted these recordings released and commercialized,” the estate’s attorneys wrote. “As the persons designated by Michael to protect his legacy after his untimely passing, the Estate’s Co-Executors are duty-bound to point this out. What you are doing is the opposite of honoring Michael Jackson.”

As if the message wasn’t clear enough, at the bottom of the letter the estate warned that it reserved “all of the Jackson Estate’s rights and remedies,” including the right to seek monetary damages and an injunction blocking further sales.

As much I am not a fan of Anotherblock releasing the first Michael Jackson recordings at a high price tag ($25 & $100) and owning the rights to commercialise this, I am also thinking that if the Estate really bothered about this, they could have actually purchased the rights back in April 2022. Instead, they prefer someone to purchase them and then sue! We have seen this before. Is it a tactic to save money by not purchasing and let others with lawsuits to deal with and a potential bankruptcy? Or they genuinely did not know those assets were for grab? I mean I have my opinion on this but I let you make your own.