Eight years after a Michael Jackson fan, Vera Serova, sued Sony and the Estate over posthumous recordings the label released that were sung by an impersonator, the lawsuit has finally been settled.
In 2014, Jackson fan Vera Serova filed a class-action lawsuit against Sony Music, the Jackson estate, and producers claiming that three songs on the 2010 LP Michael — “Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Monster” — were sold as Jackson recordings, even though Jackson’s own children, friends, and fellow artists believed they were sung by someone else.
Earlier this summer, Sony Music pulled the three disputed Michael songs from streaming services, hinting that the eight-year lawsuit over the tracks — which wound its way through California courts before the Covid-19 pandemic paused its progress — was reaching a conclusion, which it finally did Wednesday when both sides agreed to end the lawsuit with a settlement. The details of the settlement were not revealed.
“Regardless of how the Supreme Court may rule, the parties to the lawsuit mutually decided to end the litigation, which would have potentially included additional appeals and a lengthy trial court process,” Sony and the estate said in a joint statement to Billboard, adding that removing the songs was “the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all.”
An attorney for the plaintiffs did not immediately return a request for comment. Neither side provided any details on the terms of the agreement, including whether any money exchanged hands.
Despite the settlement, it is not sure if the California Supreme Court court will still rule on Serova’s case against Sony and the estate.
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