JACKSON ESTATE SAYS "BEAT IT" TO ABC/DISNEY OVER SPECIAL

The Estate of Michael Jackson (co-managed by super-attorney John Branca, pictured here with MJ) has issued a sternly worded rebuke to ABC-TV and parent The Walt Disney Company over TV special The Last Days of Michael Jackson, due to air tonight, noting that it is wholly unauthorized. The show, the dispatch reads, "is not sponsored or approved by the Estate," adding, "It is particularly disheartening that Disney, a company known to strongly believe in protecting its own IP rights, would choose to ignore these rights belonging to the Estate."

The statement also chastises ABC for "using a copyrighted photo and silhouette image owned by the Estate" in teasers and other promotion for the telecast, removing it only after hearing from Estate attorneys. "We are told ABC intends to use music and other intellectual property owned by the Estate...without having licensed the rights to any such material. Imagine if this was done with any of ABC's intellectual property."

The Estate's missive concludes by noting, "We believe the special to be another crass and unauthorized attempt to exploit the life, music and image of Michael Jackson without respect for Michael's legacy, intellectual property rights or his children."

In a related story, a guy who downloaded a Dumbo .gif three years ago is said to remain incarcerated in the Disneyland jail.