'Michael' album fake songs lawsuit

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https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/0 ... -fake-cds/


Sony Music Tricked Michael Jackson Fans Into Buying Fake CDs


 Charlotte Hassan

 July 1, 2016

California Judge rejects Sony Music’s attempt to wriggle out of the ongoing lawsuit over fake Michael Jackson recordings…

In 2014, a Michael Jackson fan – Vera Serova, accused Jackson’s long time friend Eddie Cascio, James Porte, and Cascio’s production company Angelikson Productions LLC of creating and selling fake songs via Michael Jackson’s estate and Sony Music Entertainment. The fake songs were allegedly released on the 2010 Michael Album, and include ‘Monster’, ‘Keep Your Head Up’, and ‘Breaking News’.

Both Cascio and Porte claim that these songs were recorded in Cascio’s New Jersey basement in 2007. However, Serova and the entire Jackson family contest these claims. They say that despite the recordings bearing a similar sound to that of the pop legend, Michael Jackson never recorded those songs, and it is evident as the recordings in question have too many inconsistencies.

Consequently, Serova filed a lawsuit against Cascio and Porte. But, also included Sony Music Entertainment, as Serova claims that they mislead consumers by falsely representing the songs as Michael Jackson recordings.
Sony Music tried to get the Judge on the case to rule out consumer protection claims from the putative class action which alleged that Sony tricked fans into buying Michael Jackson’s posthumous albums containing songs recorded by other vocalists. But, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones rejected Sony’s attempts, stating that the dismissal bid was ”improper procedurally and wouldn’t have prevailed anyway”.

The case continues…

Original filing is below.

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Sony Can't Slip Michael Jackson Deception Class Claims
By Daniel Siegal

Law360, Los Angeles (June 30, 2016, 10:57 PM ET) -- A California judge rejected Sony Music Entertainment's bid to toss consumer protection claims from a putative class action alleging Sony tricked Michael Jackson fans into buying posthumous albums containing songs sung by other vocalists, saying the dismissal bid was improper procedurally and wouldn't have prevailed anyway.

In an unusual result, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones refused to issue a formal ruling on motions to strike the suit under California's law against lawsuits that infringe free speech, known as the anti-SLAPP statute, filed by Sony, Michael Jackson's estate, and Angelikson Productions LLC. Plaintiff Vera Serova alleged Angelikson committed fraud and violated California consumer protection laws by having an impostor record vocals for a posthumous Jackson album, and that Sony and the Jackson estate violated the consumer protection laws by touting the tracks' authenticity.

While the parties had entered into a stipulation to accompany the motions to strike to allow the judge to decide as a threshold matter whether the claims under California's Unfair Competition Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act fail because the alleged misrepresentations were not “commercial speech,” Judge Jones refused to do so. The judge said that the parties were asking her to make factual, summary adjudication type determinations, and that she would not do so on an anti-SLAPP motion, instead issuing an "advisory opinion" rebuffing the motions.

“At the end of the day … I'm not in a position substantively to resolve the issues that you’ve presented,” she said. “I get the desire to get to the end first, but I don’t think we can. … I tried very hard to push this into a SLAPP analysis, and it doesn’t fit.”

Even if she were to take the stipulation as true, Judge Jones said, the statements at issue could potentially be taken to mislead a reasonable consumer, and so she would have denied the anti-SLAPP motion anyway.

Serova filed suit in June 2014, alleging she bought the album, “Michael,” because Sony certified on the cover that all songs were sung by Jackson, according to the suit. But three songs were sung by people pretending to be Jackson, according to an audio expert she hired to analyze the tracks.

The songs “Breaking News,” “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up” — known as the Cascio tracks, after the location where they were produced — don’t feature Jackson’s voice, though Sony assured listeners both on the album cover and in later dust-ups over the album’s production that he was indeed the singer, according to the suit.

Sony sold the allegedly fake Jackson songs not only on compact disc, but also in individual form on electronic outlets such as iTunes and as part of a collection of songs sold in 2013, Serova claimed.

The album dropped in December 2010, a year and a half after Jackson’s death. Since then, controversy has swirled around the vocal recordings used on the album, particularly for the three songs included in the suit, Serova said.

Sony said Jackson recorded the songs in the basement of the family home of one of his friends, producer Edward Cascio, but several Jackson family members disputed that the King of Pop was the singer of those songs, Serova said.

On Thursday, Zia F. Modabber of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, representing Sony and the Jackson estate, urged Judge Jones to reconsider, arguing that forcing the parties to conduct class discovery and argue class certification before addressing this threshold legal issue — one on which both sides agreed the facts were settled — would be wasteful.

“Whether or not these are Michael Jackson’s vocals is irrelevant,” he said. “If it’s noncommercial speech, we win, it’s over.”

Judge Jones, however, wouldn't budge, saying she didn't know what the motion was, but “it's not an anti-SLAPP motion,” and also rejected the defendants' request to bring a revised anti-SLAPP motion to address her concerns, ordering the parties to open class discovery and begin moving to a class certification hearing.

“This was your bite at the early apple,” she said. “This case is two years old and it hasn’t even had class discovery. ... I really am ready to move on.”

–Additional reporting by Kat Greene. Editing by Mark Lebetkin.

http://www.law360.com/classaction/ar...n-class-claims

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@CEThomson

Charles Thomson Retweeted Dave McGregor

When the Jackson family protested these songs they were mocked as imbeciles & conspiracy theorists. Sony/MJ Estate have now admitted, in conversation with the judge in open court, the songs are likely fake after all. Zero apology, though, and they remain on sale.

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https://www.vibe.com/2018/08/sony-music ... kson-songs.
In 2010, several songs were released that were said to be recorded by the late Michael Jackson. Four years later, one fan questioned the music’s validity, leading many to believe the music was fraudulent. Now, nearly three years after the scandal, Sony Music Entertainment has admitted to releasing and selling fake tunes by the late legend.

The fake songs reportedly appeared on the 2010 posthumous album Michael. The songs in question include: “Monster,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Breaking News.” In court documents obtained by Karen Civil, Vera Servoa – the fan who kickstarted the investigation into the fake MJ songs – filed a civil suit, accusing Jackson’s longtime friends Eddie Cascio, James Victor Porte, and his production company, Angelikson Productions LLC of creating and selling music through Sony and the Jackson estate.

Cascio and Porte initially claimed that the songs were recorded in Cascio’s basement in 2007. Serova and the Jackson family, contested those claims however. While the singles sounded similar to MJ’s sound, they said Michael never recorded them. Serova testified in the Los Angeles Superior Court that they were recorded by an impersonator named Jason Malachi.

Consequently, Sony Music Entertainment conceded in court, that it had released fake singles. It’s unclear if fans or Jackson’s estate will be awarded for the criminal behavior or whether there will be an monetary punishment for Sony.

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http://hiphop-n-more.com/2018/08/sony-m ... album/amp/
Sony Music Concedes in Court They Released Fake Michael Jackson Songs on Posthumous Album
Michael Jackson fans around the world will feel a major sense of victory as Sony Music has conceded finally in court that they released three fake tracks sung by an impersonator. These songs, ‘Breaking News’, ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and ‘Monster’ appeared on the late legend’s first posthumous album, Micheal in 2010. It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 228k.
When Epic Records and Sony Music Entertainment released the album, there was a section of die hard fans that claimed that some of the tracks on the album were not performed by Michael Jackson but by an impostor. MJ’s mother Katherine Jackson believed the same. Here’s a little backstory on the case: In 2014, a fan named Vera Serova, brought a Class Action lawsuit against Jackson’s long time friend Eddie Cascio and his production company, Angelikson Productions LLC, accusing them of creating fake songs and then selling them through Michael Jackson’s estate and Sony Music Entertainment. Jackson had been friends with the Cascios brothers since the 1980s, and often called them his “second family.” James Porte, a supposed co-writer of twelve controversial songs of MJ’s including the three stated above, was also implicated in the case.

Cascio and Porte claimed that these songs were recorded in Cascio’s New Jersey basement in 2007 but failed to provide any concrete evidence to support it. Serova argued in the Los Angeles Superior Court that the songs were fake and performed by an impersonator named Jason Malachi. Serova cited several inconsistencies in the manner these songs came to fruition, which are supported by a 41-page report by forensic audiologist Dr. George Papcun, who concluded by research that the songs were not sung by Jackson.

The plaintiff offered several documents of evidence based on concern from Jackson’s family, friends and collaborators, stating that the three songs in particular lacked the legendary singer’s vibe — for example his trademark finger snaps and foot stomps. Also, when Sony tried to defend itself and asked Porte and Cascio to provide alternate vocal takes of these songs, they claimed they had deleted them all from their computers.

Interestingly, Serova also said in the court that Sony Music and the Cascio brothers had been trying to delete evidence of any misdoing and make sure the media didn’t take up the issue on a big level. That’s the reason why this story has hardly been reported so far. As MJ enthusiast Damien Shields reports, on December 7, 2016, lawyers for Sony Music and the estate finally conceded that the songs might actually be forgeries. They said that Sony and the Estate had taken Porte and Cascio at their word and failed to make their own investigation.

The argument was not accepted by the presiding Judge Ann I. Jones of the Los Angeles Superior Court. “What is problematic is that you are ripping people off under your admitted facts,” she said. Zia Modabber, the lawyer for Sony and the Estate, tried to shift the blame on the co-defendants Porte and Cascio by saying that they “failed to disclose to Sony or the Estate that Michael Jackson did not provide the lead vocals.” Judge Jones did not agree with Modabber’s argument: “I think what he is saying here is. ‘We were as duped as the Plaintiffs… We didn’t know you guys were recording stuff in a basement that wasn’t recorded by Michael. You told us it was Michael. We believed it was Michael. And if there is a bad guy here, who was engaging in false commercial speech, it’s not us.’”
Sony and the Estate appealed the adverse ruling, and on August 21, the California Court of Appeal heard the oral argument in the appeal where Sony Music conceded that the three songs ‘Breaking News’, ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and ‘Monster’ featuring 50 Cent were indeed performed by an impersonator and not Michael Jackson. They did this for the purpose of the current argument on appeal. They argued they had the right to sell the songs as Michael Jackson’s even if the iconic artist wasn’t the singer. The three judges in the case have to now decide on the matter, the time limit for which is 90 days.
This stage is just an intermediate appeal of Sony and the Jackson Estate’s First Amendment defense. The Court of Appeal will decide whether they should stay as defendants in the case or should be dismissed and allowed to continue selling the album deceptively. The case against Cascio brothers is very strong but the court has to make an important decision regarding Sony’s involvement in the fraud. If the court decides Sony’s part as “non-commercial speech,” they will be let off as defendants and the case against Cascio brothers will move on further.

Commercial speech is the advertising of a product or service through printed materials, broadcast or the Internet. It is a commercial speech when your competitor blatantly lies in its advertising about the effectiveness of its products. Sony is arguing that the songs were provided to them by the Cascio Brothers and Porte as original MJ songs which they believed in good faith. How much penalty will the judge decide for them? Stay tuned for this important verdict in what’s turning out to be one of the biggest music lawsuits in history.

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http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... album.html
Sony denies claims it admitted to faking several Michael Jackson songs on posthumous album
Sony Music Entertainment and the Michael Jackson estate are denying earlier reports the record company admitted this week to releasing three fake songs on the singer’s posthumous album.

Zia Modabber, of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, the attorney representing both Sony Music and the Jackson estate, said in a statement: “No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs. The hearing Tuesday was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings.”

Modabber's statement comes after multiple reports that the record company admitted to using a King of Pop impersonator on three songs in the “Michael” album, released in 2010.







http://www.justjared.com/2018/08/24/son ... son-music/







https://www.wkbw.com/entertainment/repo ... s-in-court
Report: Some songs on Michael Jackson album are fake, Sony admits in court

Music label says it was duped, reports say

Music label Sony says it was duped after admitting three songs on a Michael Jackson album it released after his death are fake.

The songs were on Sony's album "Michael," which was released in 2010 and is said to have previously unreleased tracks by the famed music artist. According to reports by Fortune, Vibe and other music news outlets, the music label made the admission in a court hearing.

The three songs are “Breaking News”, “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up." Producers Eddie Cascio and James Porte claimed the songs included Jackson's vocals.

The album was released by Epic Records, which hasn't commented on the issue, Fortune reports.

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Sony Music Has Not Conceded That Vocals on Michael Jackson Album Are Fake
By JEM ASWAD

Articles published on Thursday claimed that Sony Music had “admitted” in a court hearing earlier this week that three tracks on “Michael,” the 2010 Michael Jackson album released posthumously by Sony’s Epic Records, contained lead vocals that were not actually by Michael Jackson — an assertion that the company denied in a statement released late Friday morning.

“No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs,” said Zia Modabber of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, who is representing both Sony Music and the Jackson estate in this matter. “The hearing Tuesday was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings.” That interpretation was seconded to Variety by the plaintiff’s attorney on Friday afternoon.

The songs in question are “Breaking News,” “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up,” which were released on “Michael,” the first album from a splashy ten-album 2010 deal between Jackson’s estate and Epic Records to complete and issue dozens of previously unreleased recordings by the singer. While the deal — which estimates at the time claimed could bring $250 million to the estate — called for the 10 albums to be released over the next seven years, just two have emerged, “Michael” and 2014’s “Xscape.”

Although involved parties have claimed that the recordings were faked since they were first released in 2010, the court hearing stems from a 2014 class-action lawsuit brought by a fan, Vera Serova, against Sony Music; John Branca, a co-executor of the estate; MJJ Productions; Edward Cascia and James Porte, the songwriter/producers of the songs in question; and their production companies. According to the lawsuit, in November 2010 Sony stated “We have complete confidence in the results of our extensive research as well as the accounts of those who were in the studio with Michael that the vocals on the new album are his own.” Howard Weitzman, an attorney for Jackson’s estate, released a statement citing multiple engineers, musicians, vocal directors, executives and musicologists as concluding that the vocals were Jackson’s.

Sony and the Jackson estate sought to throw the lawsuit based on California’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute, which protects speech on matters of public interest. The trial court judge denied the motion, prompting Sony and the estate to appeal. The argument was heard Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal. Whether or not the vocals are indeed Jackson’s was not the purpose of Tuesday’s hearing, but rather whether the album’s liner notes and a video promoting it qualified as “commercial speech,” which, if they were would mean they are not protected by the anti-SLAPP statute.

“When you review the motion on appeal, you assume that everything in the complaint is true,” said Bryan Freedman, who represents other defendants in the case. “Any admission that was made was for purposes of that argument only.” A ruling on the anti-SLAPP motion is due within the next 90 days.

Among other issues, the 2014 lawsuit raises the question of whether people who purchased the album or songs “are entitled to a refund, in whole or in part, of the purchase price of the album ‘Michael’ and/or the songs.”

According to sources close to the situation, individuals who attended Tuesday’s court hearing seized upon a statement by an attorney for Jackson’s estate in which he said something to the effect of “even if the vocals weren’t Jackson’s” as proof that they were indeed faked. The sources insist that the attorney was speaking speculatively.

The notes read in part, “This album contains 9 previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson. These tracks were recently completed using music from the original vocal tracks and music created by the credited producers.”

The wording of that statement is striking in light of Modabber’s comment, which says Jackson sang “on” the songs, which could be interpreted to mean that his vocals were enhanced or even completed by another singer. Fans have long claimed that an American singer named Jason Malachi actually sang the three songs in question, and he purportedly admitted as much in a 2011 Facebook post, according to TMZ, although his manager later denied it, claiming the post was faked.


https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/so...ke-1202916324/

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Casey Rain || S-Endz
‏
Verified account

@CaseyRain

The truth about the FAKE SONGS released on posthumous 2010 Michael Jackson album "Michael" MUST come out. Thankfully, progress is happening, & we are doing our part to spread the word. We sat down for a livestream with author @damienshields to discuss!

https://youtu.be/dyoXb0zrj_o

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Sony Music released a statement to Variety yesterday (August 24) denying that they have released “fake” Michael Jackson songs posthumously, contrary to reports earlier this week.

Earlier this week, reports emerged that three “Michael Jackson” songs Sony released posthumously on 2010’s ‘Michael’ were not in fact by the artist, but an impersonator.

The songs ‘Breaking News’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’ were said to have been recorded by the singer the year before his death. ‘Michael’, the first posthumous album released by Sony, sold 85,000 copies in it’s first week alone and reached number 3 on the Billboard 200.

However, a fan – named as Vera Serova in court documents – brought a class action lawsuit against Sony Music, the Jackson estate and Eddie Cascio, a Jackson collaborator whose production company (Angelikson Productions) is said to have sold the songs in question to Sony, in 2014.

Serova is said to have employed the services of a forensic audiologist, Dr George Papcun, to compare Jackson’s voice to those on the recording. According to The Mirror, the audiologist concluded that the voice “very likely did not belong to Michael Jackson.”

In a US court this week, Sony attempted to persuade a judge that it should not be a defendant in a lawsuit over the songs. The label hypothesised that even if Jackson wasn’t the main singer on the disputed songs in question, it would not mean that it had no rights to still sell the music under his name.

Media reports then emerged saying that Sony had conceded the songs were “faked”, but the record company is now denying this is the case. Speaking to Variety, they said: “No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs.”

It continues: “The hearing Tuesday [August 21] was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings.”

Variety also added: “According to sources close to the situation, individuals who attended Tuesday’s court hearing seized upon a statement by an attorney for Jackson’s estate in which he said something to the effect of ‘even if the vocals weren’t Jackson’s’ as proof they were indeed faked. The sources insist that the attorney was speculating.”

According to court documents, Sony is arguing that the songs were provided to them in good faith by Cascio’s production company and James Porte, a supposed co-writer of the disputed songs.

However, as reported in The Guardian, the album sparked controversy upon it’s release with many questioning the authenticity of the voice on the recordings. Michal’s sister La Toya Jackson was quoted in TMZas saying “it didn’t sound like him” even though Michael’s Epic records company – part of Sony Music Entertainment Group – said it had “complete confidence” in the validity of the songs at the time.

Mike Smallcombe – the author of Michael Jackson biography Making Michael– has also doubted the legitimacy of the songs. “Those three songs need to be removed from the album immediately, and the executors of the estate should resign,” he said.

Ray Gallo, a lawyer representing Serova said his client was not interested in money. “She is a lifelong Michael Jackson fan that deeply felt the importance of protecting Jackson’s legacy…my colleagues and I are always honoured to bring consumer cases that challenge dishonesty and help bring integrity and reliability to consumer markets, including this one.”

Jackson died in 2009, just before he was due to make a series of high-profile comeback shows. His label released a tributeto the late singer in the days after his death, describing him as “a brilliant troubadour for his generation, a genius whose music reflected the passion and creativity of an era.”

https://www.nme.com/news/music/sony-...-songs-2370522

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Earlier this week, reports emerged that three “Michael Jackson” songs Sony released posthumously on 2010’s ‘Michael’ were not in fact by the artist, but an impersonator.

The songs ‘Breaking News’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’ were said to have been recorded by the singer the year before his death. ‘Michael’, the first posthumous album released by Sony, sold 85,000 copies in it’s first week alone and reached number 3 on the Billboard 200.

However, a fan – named as Vera Serova in court documents – brought a class action lawsuit against Sony Music, the Jackson estate and Eddie Cascio, a Jackson collaborator whose production company (Angelikson Productions) is said to have sold the songs in question to Sony, in 2014.

Serova is said to have employed the services of a forensic audiologist, Dr George Papcun, to compare Jackson’s voice to those on the recording. According to The Mirror, the audiologist concluded that the voice “very likely did not belong to Michael Jackson.”

In a US court this week, Sony attempted to persuade a judge that it should not be a defendant in a lawsuit over the songs. The label hypothesised that even if Jackson wasn’t the main singer on the disputed songs in question, it would not mean that it had no rights to still sell the music under his name.

Media reports then emerged saying that Sony had conceded the songs were “faked”, but the record company is now denying this is the case. Speaking to Variety, they said: “No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs.”

It continues: “The hearing Tuesday [August 21] was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings.”

Variety also added: “According to sources close to the situation, individuals who attended Tuesday’s court hearing seized upon a statement by an attorney for Jackson’s estate in which he said something to the effect of ‘even if the vocals weren’t Jackson’s’ as proof they were indeed faked. The sources insist that the attorney was speculating.”

According to court documents, Sony is arguing that the songs were provided to them in good faith by Cascio’s production company and James Porte, a supposed co-writer of the disputed songs.

However, as reported in The Guardian, the album sparked controversy upon it’s release with many questioning the authenticity of the voice on the recordings. Michal’s sister La Toya Jackson was quoted in TMZas saying “it didn’t sound like him” even though Michael’s Epic records company – part of Sony Music Entertainment Group – said it had “complete confidence” in the validity of the songs at the time.

Mike Smallcombe – the author of Michael Jackson biography Making Michael– has also doubted the legitimacy of the songs. “Those three songs need to be removed from the album immediately, and the executors of the estate should resign,” he said.

Ray Gallo, a lawyer representing Serova said his client was not interested in money. “She is a lifelong Michael Jackson fan that deeply felt the importance of protecting Jackson’s legacy…my colleagues and I are always honoured to bring consumer cases that challenge dishonesty and help bring integrity and reliability to consumer markets, including this one.”

Jackson died in 2009, just before he was due to make a series of high-profile comeback shows. His label released a tributeto the late singer in the days after his death, describing him as “a brilliant troubadour for his generation, a genius whose music reflected the passion and creativity of an era.”

https://www.nme.com/news/music/sony-...-songs-2370522

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https://www.npr.org/2018/08/27/64234231 ... ium=social

The Strange Story Of Those Supposedly Fake Michael Jackson Songs

August 27, 2018·5:45 PM ET
One month before the December 2010 release of Michael — the first album released after the King of Pop's death in 2009 — Michael Jackson's family was very publicly raising doubts about whether three songs on the album had actually been performed by him. "I tried so hard to prevent this craziness, but they wouldn't listen," Jackson's older brother, Taryll, tweeted. "It doesn't sound like him," Jackson's sister, La Toya, said at the time. It's a controversy that diehard fans have kept their eyes on for nearly a decade, and which has re-entered news feeds after arguments were heard last week in a long-running court case over it.

The three songs allegedly sung by someone other than Jackson — "Breaking News," "Monster" and "Keep Your Head Up" — were ostensibly recorded in New Jersey in 2007, with the pop star working alongside credited co-writers Edward Cascio and James Porte. (Reportedly, Jackson and his family were living in the house of Cascio's father at the time and made the tracks at Cascio's home studio.) After Jackson's death, Sony Music and Epic Records then packaged those tracks, along with six other unreleased songs of undisputed authenticity, into Michael, an album which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — a relatively low showing for the King of Pop.


Cascio and Sony Music have long maintained the tracks' authenticity, while the Jackson estate dispatched attorney Howard Weitzman to allay suspicions just head of the album's 2010 release.

In 2012, two British men were arrested for hacking into a Sony network and making off with Jackson's entire recorded music catalog, a "$253 million heist." They later pled guilty and were given no jail time. (A few years later, you may remember, the company would be recovering from a far more damning technological snafu.) According to a report from The Guardian, the pair undertook the infiltration with the goal of verifying whether Jackson had actually sung on his posthumous songs.

Then, in 2014, Jackson fan Vera Serova sued Cascio, Porte, Sony Music, Jackson estate co-executor John Branca, MJJ Productions (the estate's music arm) and Angelikson Productions (Cascio's production company). Serova accused them all of, essentially, selling her and others a product which had been misrepresented. Separately, she accused Porte, Cascio and Angelikson of fraud.

Last week, on Aug. 21, arguments were heard in an appeal that has put Serova's main case on hold. The appeal centers around the question of whether Sony Music and the Jackson estate are liable for misrepresenting the contents of the album to consumers by depicting Jackson on its cover and by promoting the album's release in a YouTube video. In order to make the case that they should be removed from Serova's putative class action, both Sony Music and Jackson's estate hypothetically "admitted" that the songs were not sung by the late legend.

"We have conceded for purposes of this motion — solely for purposes of this motion — that Michael Jackson did not sing the vocals on those three songs," Zia Modabber, the lawyer representing Sony Music and the Jackson estate explained in oral arguments obtained by NPR. "But they have alleged, and are stuck for all purposes, with the fact that the Angelikson [the production company of Edward Cascio] defendants — not us — were solely and exclusively in possession of knowledge about who actually sang them."

After attending last week's hearing, a person tweeting under the name A Truth Untold drew renewed attention to the controversy after writing several posts on the hearing that were widely interpreted as a smoking gun as to the tracks' inauthenticity. The truth is less clear-cut: Sony Music and the estate were, and are, in the midst of making a more specific argument — that the album's cover art and a video published ahead of its release are both First Amendment speech, not "commercial speech." How the appeals court judges rule on that notion will determine whether the accused parties are liable for misrepresenting the album's contents to consumers.

"The particular statement being complained of in our case in that video ad," Modabber continued, referencing the YouTube promo, "is it says that this is an album from the greatest musical entertainer of all time, from Michael Jackson. Well it is an album — and it's really his estate — well, it is an album, from his estate. Okay? ... The other point I would make about the video ad is that for somebody to say that they heard 'Here's an album from Michael Jackson,' and they translate that into 'every vocal on all of the songs were sung by Michael Jackson' — that is not a reasonable interpretation."

Driving the point home in a statement given to NPR on Aug. 24, Modabber wrote: "No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs. The hearing Tuesday was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings."

The three appeals court judges have until Nov. 1 to file their opinion on the question. Serova's case against Angelikson Productions, Edward Cascio and James Porte will continue regardless of the appeals court decision.

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@ATruthUntold

#CascioCase UPDATE

The unthinkable has happened!

The Los Angeles 2nd District Court of Appeal has ruled in favor of Sony Music & the Michael Jackson Estate, ruling that they SHOULD be allowed to sell FAKE songs to consumers & say they’re real.#RemoveCascioTracksNOW

9:07 PM - Aug 28, 2018








Replying to @ATruthUntold

OUTRAGEOUS!

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the wording on the MICHAEL album cover, which says: "This album contains 9 previously unreleased VOCAL tracks PERFORMED BY MICHAEL JACKSON," is NOT a 'commercial' statement by Sony that the vocals are performed by Michael Jackson.

10:02 PM - Aug 28, 2018







Replying to @ATruthUntold

"We conclude that the challenged representation - that Jackson was the lead singer on the three Disputed Tracks - did not simply promote sale of the album, but also stated a position on a disputed issue of public interest." - Court of Appeal.

10:05 PM - Aug 28, 2018





Replying to @ATruthUntold

The court ruled that because the songs were a "controversial issue of interest" for fans, Sony's false statements are "subject to full First Amendment protection. They are therefore outside the scope of an actionable unfair competition or consumer protection claim in this case."

10:05 PM - Aug 28, 2018








Replying to @ATruthUntold

The court also stated: "The identity of the lead singer was also integral to the artistic significance of the songs themselves," meaning if Sony did NOT state that these songs were Michael Jackson, they'd be worthless. WHICH THEY ARE! BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT MICHAEL JACKSON SONGS!


10:05 PM - Aug 28, 2018








Replying to @ATruthUntold

Let that statement sink in. That is like saying 'Sony are allowed to tell its consumers that fake songs are real, because otherwise the multi-billion dollar corporation wouldn't be able to convince innocent consumers to buy them. Poor Sony. They had no choice but to lie.'

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Faking Michael preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF8LLcUSMWA

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http://www.damienshields.com/exclusive- ... -released/
EXCLUSIVE: Forensic report concludes posthumous Michael Jackson album DID include FAKE songs, sung by an impostor!
BY DAMIEN SHIELDS
THE VOCALIST on three allegedly fake Michael Jackson tracks sang in the wrong dialect, was unable to control fundamental aspects of his singing voice including vibrato, and even mispronounced Jackson’s name, according to a bombshell expert report.

The document, obtained exclusively by DamienShields.com, was compiled by forensic audiologist Dr. George Papcun, PhD, who put the tracks under the microscope and reached the disturbing conclusion that the songs were fakes, ultimately laying the foundation for a class action consumer fraud lawsuit.

The 2014 lawsuit was filed by fan Vera Serova who alleged that three songs – “Breaking News,” “Monster,” and “Keep Your Head Up” – released by Sony Music and the Michael Jackson Estate executors on Jackson’s first posthumous album, Michael, were forgeries. The three songs, known as the ‘Cascio tracks’, have long been a sore spot for both sides. Sony and the Estate initially defended the authenticity of the songs, while members of the Jackson family and thousands of fans and claimed the songs were fakes – sung by an impostor.

The 41-page report detailing Dr. Papcun’s findings, revealed for the first time today, was the result of several months of careful scientific comparison of the Cascio tracks with Jackson’s legitimate recordings. The goal: to determine whether the Cascio tracks were sung by Jackson.

When Serova first contacted Dr. Papcun to propose such an analysis, he thought she was wasting his time. According to an email sent by Dr. Papcun to Serova several months before the lawsuit was filed, the ultimate conclusion that the songs were forgeries surprised the expert. He wrote:

“When I first accepted this project, I thought there was a good chance you and your colleagues were not serious and this case had no merit. Obviously, I have changed my mind completely… I have come to the opinion that the three songs are not, in fact, the voice of Michael Jackson.”

A closer look at Dr. Papcun’s report reveals a combination of three analytical approaches. First, the expert looked at the dialect of the vocalist on the Cascio tracks, comparing his pronunciation of certain words with audio of Jackson repeatedly singing the same words throughout four decades of legitimate recordings. Interestingly, Dr. Papcun found the dialect in the Cascio tracks to be more consistent with Jason Malachi – the sound-alike long believed to be the real singer of the Cascio songs – than with Jackson.

Dr. Papcun identified that the vocalist on the Cascio tracks had a ‘glottal stop’ – meaning they did not pronounce Ts in the middle of some words. Dr. Papcun gave the example of the Cascio track vocalist singing the word “waiting” as “wai’in” – something he said Jackson never did. Dr. Papcun wrote:

“A review of Jackson’s recordings over his entire career, spanning 39 years, shows that he does not use the glottal stop allophone in this position. By contrast, the singer Jason Malachi uses the glottal stop routinely in this position. The glottal stop allophone in this position is characteristic of the speech of Brooklyn, New York. Quoting Malachi’s bio: “I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland; however, my family is originally from Brooklyn, New York.” Assuming he learned to talk from his parents, or at least was influenced by them, the glottal stop in this position would be expected from him. However that may be, the fact is he uses it, whereas Michael Jackson does not.”

Ironically, according to the report, the vocalist on the songs, who Cascio and Porte insist is Jackson, also fails to pronounce the name “Jackson” correctly. In “Breaking News,” the vocalist repeatedly sings the name ‘Michael Jackson’ – but Dr Papcun compared the recording with Jackson’s pronunciation of his own name in clips spanning 20 years, from 1983 to 2003, and found no match:

“The pronunciation of the name “Jackson” in Breaking News (as [sEn]) differs from the pronunciations of “Jackson” as spoken by Michael Jackson in interviews over many years.”

Next, Dr. Papcun’s report examines vibrato characteristics in Cascio track “Breaking News,” demonstrating its differences from the vibrato in known Jackson recordings. In singing, vibrato is the pulsating change of pitch that occurs at the end of a note through variations in the larynx. Again, Dr. Papcun found no consistencies between the vibrato on the Cascio tracks and known Jackson recordings. He did however note that – as with the dialect – the vibrato frequency in the Cascio tracks is more consistent with that of Jason Malachi. He states:

“Acoustic analysis shows that the vibrato in Breaking News is faster than the vibrato in a sample of Jackson recordings. Moreover, the vibrato in a sample of known Jackson recordings is smoother and more closely adheres to the note being sung. The vibrato in a sample of Malachi recordings as well as the vibrato in Breaking News is more frequent than the vibrato in known Jackson recordings.”

Dr. Papcun focuses in on Jackson’s vibrato in “Speechless” (Invincible, 2001) noting that the curves are “dramatically smoother” than those in “Breaking News,” and “much better and more consistently sustained.” According to Dr. Papcun, Jackson’s vibrato rate is “essentially what is regarded as ideal according to prior music commentary.”

Finally, the report highlights significant statistical difference of vibrato usage in the middle of the song lines and on line endings between undisputed Jackson recordings and the Cascio tracks.

Additional key statistic drawn from this analysis include:

The singer of the Cascio tracks uses vibrato 100% the time, on each and every song. However, in 22% of the Jackson recordings analysed, the King of Pop does do NOT use vibrato at all during verses.
The singer of the Cascio tracks changes his vibrato pattern a whopping 83% of the time, while Jackson’s vibrato pattern changes in the verses only 9% of the time.
The singer of the Cascio tracks uses vibrato in the middle of a line 58% of the time. Again, Jackson only does this in 9% of the known and undisputed recordings that were analysed.
Citing the differences in dialect, vibrato, tremolo and vocal control on the Cascio tracks, Dr. Papcun “rejected the hypothesis” that Jackson was the vocalist.

Dr Papcun’s resume certainly looks impressive – he has worked for the CIA, the National Security Agency and the US Secret Service, and served as an audio expert in high profile cases including the Rodney King beating, the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey and the Patty Hearst kidnapping. His specialisms include checking whether audio has been manipulated, proving the identities of suspects through speech analysis, and helping to organise ‘voice line-ups’ in criminal cases. But of course, Dr. Papcun’s conclusions remain his expert opinion.

When concerns were first raised about the authenticity of the Cascio tracks in 2010, the Jackson Estate’s attorney Howard Weitzman claimed the Estate and Sony Music had hired their own forensic experts, one of whom had supposedly performed ‘waveform analysis’ and concluded that the voice was Jackson’s. However neither the names or credentials of their experts, nor their written conclusions have ever been made public.

In any event, Dr. Papcun claims in his report that the analyses he has performed “are very much more detailed and accurate than waveform analysis.” It certainly looks convincing.

The lawsuit regarding the Cascio tracks and Michael album made media headlines recently when it was reported that Sony and the Estate had conceded in court that the three songs in question may be fakes after all. Sony responded with a statement denying such a concession had been made, however one of Sony’s lawyers, Andrew Demko, stated the following in a December 2016 court hearing:

“We are submitting now it may have turned out not to be [Michael Jackson].”

Zia Modabber, also representing the corporations, stated that Sony and the Estate had become innocent victims of the fraud themselves when they were duped by Eddie Cascio and James Porte – the little-known producers who sold the songs to them as Jackson’s. However, Modabber also insisted that even if the vocals were not Jackson’s, Sony and the Estate had done nothing wrong by saying they were.

Judge Ann I. Jones of the Los Angeles Superior Court took issue with this position, stating:

“What is problematic is that you are ripping people off under your admitted facts.”

Modabber insisted the Constitution allowed Sony and the Estate to lie to consumers:

“If we ripped people off and it’s noncommercial speech, they lose under the statutes; that is just the law.”

Judge Jones ruled in favour of plaintiff Serova and ordered the corporations to face the music, which they appealed.

Then, in a surprising development just last week (Aug 28, 2018), the California Court of Appeal agreed with Sony and the Jackson Estate and removed them from the case, ruling that naming Michael Jackson as the vocalist on the album cover and in a video advertisement was not misleading to consumers. Rather, the court ruled, it was merely their contribution to a public debate, making it ‘non-commercial’ artistic free speech, protected by the First Amendment.
The fraud lawsuit continues against the producers of the songs, Eddie Cascio and James Porte. On top of the “comprehensive assessment” by Dr. Papcun, which concludes the songs are fake, Serova’s complaint lists several other discoveries supporting her position, including the inconsistent timeline of the recording, lack of Jackson’s signature hand claps, finger snaps and foot stomps in the raw isolated vocal tracks, and Cascio’s incredible claim that all evidence of the origins of the songs had been destroyed.

Regarding Sony and the Estate’s dismissal from the case, Serova has a few options. She can leave Sony and the Estate alone and continue the fraud case against Cascio and Porte. In this case Sony can continue selling the songs as ‘Michael Jackson’ regardless of the outcome of the fraud case. Alternatively, Serova can petition the Court of Appeal for rehearing. The petition for rehearing is granted or denied within 30 days of the court’s opinion, after which time it becomes final and can be appealed to the California Supreme Court, California’s highest authority. The Supreme Court grants review to a very small percentage of cases, but in important matters like this it’s not impossible.

Also, in the coming months I will be releasing Faking Michael—an investigative podcast series chronicling my eight-year quest for the truth about the Cascio tracks and the Michael album as I embarked on a personal mission to find out once and for all where the songs truly came from, and how they ended up on an official Michael Jackson album.

The pieces of evidence cited in this article are just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the course of the podcast series I will detail the findings of my investigation, drawing on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with many of those closest to the controversy, thousands of pages of correspondence and official records, and never-before-heard evidence that has lead to shocking breakthrough discoveries. In doing so, I will endeavour to put the countless of pieces of this puzzle into place, and reveal the complete picture for the very first time.

LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE NOW:

Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/fak ... 72710?mt=2
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0J39NH ... XC9nS?nd=1
Android: http://subscribeonandroid.com/fakingmic ... ed/podcast?
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF8LLcUSMWA
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-572776729/trailer

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http://www.damienshields.com/court-rule ... s-genuine/

THE Los Angeles Second District Court of Appeal has today ruled that Sony Music and the Michael Jackson Estate will no longer have to face the music in a lawsuit that alleges they released and advertised an album containing three fake songs attributed to the King of Pop.

The court dismissed the corporations from the lawsuit not because it felt the songs were real, but because it decided that they had a right to sell them under Jackson’s name even if they were fake. The court has certified this decision for publication, which means it becomes a precedent on which every subsequent record label, art dealer, or publisher can rely in arguing that they may attribute work to, let’s say, Prince, Picasso, or Mark Twain when they don’t know for sure who the singer, painter, or author is.

A little bit of backstory, if you’re hearing about this for the first time…

California-based consumer Vera Serova contends in her class action lawsuit that millions of consumers have been defrauded since the Jackson Estate and Sony Music Entertainment released the Michael album, including three songs—“Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up” and “Monster”—with fake vocals sung by a Jackson soundalike.

In December 2010, co-defendant in Serova’s lawsuit, Eddie Cascio, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to defend the authenticity of the songs after several members of the Jackson family, a number of Michael’s former collaborators, thousands of fans around the world, and even one of the two Co-Executors of Jackson’s Estate claimed the songs were fakes.

Cascio and his collaborative partner James Porte, also a co-defendant, provided the songs to Sony in a lucrative deal between the label and their production company—Angelikson Productions—in mid 2010. When asked to respond to accusations that the voice on his songs was not Jackson’s, Cascio simply told Winfrey: “I can tell you that it is Michael’s voice.” Unchallenged by the talk show host for any kind of evidence beyond his word, Cascio added that Jackson had recorded the three songs—along with nine others that remain unreleased—in his New Jersey basement home studio in 2007. Serova contended Jackson did no such thing, subsequently slapping Cascio, Porte, and Angelikson Productions with an explosive fraud lawsuit.

Filed more than four years ago, the lawsuit also charged that Sony and the Jackson Estate engaged in commercial speech, falsely representing the three allegedly-fake songs as being sung by Michael Jackson. Serova filed claims against the companies under the Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

So it’s been in court for four years? What have I missed?

In December 2016, lawyers for Sony Music and the Estate conceded that the songs might actually be forgeries.

“We are submitting now it may have turned out not to be [Michael Jackson], but there is no stipulation that at the time we made the statements we knew,” conceded one of Sony’s lawyers, Andrew Demko, in court.

Zia Modabber, also representing the corporations, argued Sony and the Estate had taken the songs original producers—James Porte and Eddie Cascio—at their word. He insisted that even if the vocals were not Jackson’s, Sony and the Estate had done nothing wrong by saying they were. This was noncommercial speech protected by the First Amendment, Modabber claimed.

“What is problematic is that you are ripping people off under your admitted facts,” said Judge Ann I. Jones of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Modabber insisted the Constitution allowed Sony and the Estate to lie to consumers: “If we ripped people off and it’s noncommercial speech, they lose under the statutes; that is just the law.”

To be culpable, Modabber told the court, the seller of the product should be ‘in a position to know what it is they are selling’. “In this case, that is not what has gone on,” he argued, adding that co-defendants Porte and Cascio “failed to disclose to Sony or the Estate that Michael Jackson did not provide the lead vocals.”

Judge Jones summarized Modabber’s argument as follows: “I think what he is saying here is. ‘We were duped… We didn’t know you guys were recording stuff in a basement that wasn’t recorded by Michael. You told us it was Michael. We believed it was Michael. And if there is a bad guy here, who was engaging in false commercial speech, it’s not us.’”

At the time, the trial court concluded that the album cover, including statements about the contents of the album, and a promotional video for the album were indeed commercial speech, and that the case against Sony and the Estate should move forward.

Okay, got it. That’s crazy! But today the court changed its mind and let Sony and the Estate off the hook… How and why?

Sony and the Estate appealed the trial court’s previous ruling. Last Tuesday, August 21, 2018, they appeared in the Second District Appeal Court to argue—just as they did, unsuccessfully, in December 2016—that regardless of the fact that Michael Jackson may not be the singer, their sale and promotion of the album is noncommercial artistic free speech, protected by the First Amendment.

Earlier today, Tuesday August 28, 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled in Sony and the Estate’s favour, stating that the wording on the Michael album cover (which says: “This album contains 9 previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson”) is not a ‘commercial’ statement by Sony that the vocals are performed by Michael Jackson. Instead, the court stated, these words represented the multi-billion dollar corporation’s “stated a position on a disputed issue of public interest.” The court ruled that because the songs were a “controversial issue of interest” for fans, Sony’s false statements are “subject to full First Amendment protection. They are therefore outside the scope of an actionable unfair competition or consumer protection claim in this case.”
Adding further insult to injury, the court’s ruling stated: “The identity of the lead singer was also integral to the artistic significance of the songs themselves,” meaning that if Sony did not attribute the songs Michael Jackson, they’d be worthless—essentially implying that Sony are allowed to tell its consumers that fake songs are real, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to convince innocent consumers to buy them!

So where to from here?

Serova has a few options. She can leave Sony and the Estate alone and continue the fraud case against Cascio, Porte, and Angelikson. In this case Sony can continue selling the songs as ‘Michael Jackson’ regardless of the outcome of the fraud case, and in addition to revenues from the songs, demand their legal fees from Serova. Alternatively, Serova can petition the Court of Appeal for rehearing. The petition for rehearing is granted or denied within 30 days of the court’s opinion, after which time it becomes final and can be appealed to the California Supreme Court, California’s highest authority. The Supreme Court grants review to a very small percentage of cases, but in important matters like this it’s not impossible.

Also, in the coming weeks and months I will be releasing Faking Michael—an investigative podcast series chronicling my eight-year quest for the truth about the Cascio tracks and the Michael album as I embarked on a personal mission to find out once and for all where the songs truly came from, and how they ended up on an official Michael Jackson album.

Throughout the course of the podcast series I will detail the findings of my investigation, drawing on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with many of those closest to the controversy, thousands of pages of correspondence and official records, and never-before-heard evidence that has lead to shocking breakthrough discoveries. In doing so, I will endeavour to put the countless of pieces of this puzzle into place, and reveal the complete picture for the very first time.

A trailer for Faking Michael is live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube and Android.

LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE NOW:

Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/fak ... 72710?mt=2
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0J39NH ... XC9nS?nd=1
Android: http://subscribeonandroid.com/fakingmic ... ed/podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF8LLcUSMWA
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-572776729/trailer

[soulmum]

http://www.damienshields.com/supreme-co ... racks-now/


Supreme Court petitioned in fake Michael Jackson songs case while fans launch annual campaign to remove them from 2010 album

By Damien Shields

A teenager walks into a record store before Christmas 2018 and sees what he believes is the perfect gift for his mom (who already owns three Michael Jackson albums): an album whose cover shows images of Michael Jackson’s face next to the word “Michael” and on the flip side states “This album contains 9 previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson.” He buys the album. At the time, the teenager is not aware that three of the album songs are sung by an impersonator, or that there is any controversy as to whether Jackson actually sang the vocals on all of the album’s songs.

While the teenager is in the record store, his mom is at a supermarket buying peaches with an “organic” label affixed to them. Mom does not know there is a dispute between the two biggest peach growers in California over the labeling of these peaches as organic. However, mom is led to believe by the label that they are in fact “organic”. In actuality, someone in the supply chain stuck “organic” labels on peaches that were not grown organically.

When it is uncovered that three of the album songs are not sung by Michael Jackson, or revealed that the peaches are not organic, the teenager and his mother should be able to bring suits against the music distributor and the supermarket respectively because, as consumers protected by the CLRA, as far as they were concerned, the statements on the album cover and peach label were facts.
Quoted above are the opening three paragraphs from a recently-filed court document. The document forms part of a petition that asks the Supreme Court of California to take the case of Serova vs Sony Music Entertainment and the Estate of Michael Jackson regarding the ongoing commercial sale of three allegedly-forged songs which have been falsely attributed to the late pop superstar.

A few days ago, on November 7, 2018, plaintiff Vera Serova and her legal team officially completed the process of petitioning the Supreme Court to intervene in this case. The Supreme Court is Serova’s only remaining avenue in her legal pursuit to hold Sony Music and the Jackson Estate accountable for their part in the release of three allegedly-fake songs on the Michael album in 2010. Such an intervention is now necessary because the Court of Appeals recently reversed the Superior Court’s original decision that Sony and the Jackson Estate should face the music regarding their commercial representations of forged art as being genuine.

A little bit of backstory, if you’re hearing about this for the first time…

California-based consumer Vera Serova contends in her class action lawsuit that millions of consumers have been defrauded since the Jackson Estate and Sony Music Entertainment released the Michael album, including three songs—“Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up” and “Monster”—with fake vocals sung by a Jackson soundalike.

The three songs, known as the ‘Cascio tracks’, were sold to Sony and the Jackson Estate in mid-2010 by music producers James Porte and Eddie Cascio (hence ‘Cascio tracks’) as part of a collection of twelve songs they claim Jackson recorded in their basement in 2007. Serova’s lawsuit contends Jackson did no such thing, instead claiming that Porte and Cascio masterminded the most high-profile art forgery in the history of the music business.

Originally filed in June 2014, the lawsuit alleges that Sony and the Jackson Estate engaged in commercial speech when they claimed in a television commercial and in a written product description on the CD cover that the songs on the album—which included the three forged songs—were sung by Michael Jackson. Serova filed claims against the companies under the Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

For the purposes of legal arguments Sony and the Jackson Estate conceded in court, under their admitted facts, that the songs may in fact be forged – sung not by Michael Jackson, but by an impostor. Despite this, Sony and the Estate currently find themselves dismissed from the case, with the Court of Appeals ruling that forged art can be sold as authentic as long as the seller claims they did not know it was fake and failed to properly authenticate it. Unbelievable, right? Well, believe it!
Click here for a complete overview of Sony and the Estate’s concessions that Jackson may not have sung the vocals, and of their dismissal from the case.

Serova’s petition to the Supreme Court argues that the Court of Appeal’s conclusion that knowledge is required for speech to be commercial was not limited to the facts of this case; that their decision has erased the legal difference between facts and opinions; that the publisher of a falsely attributed creative work should be liable; and that if the current decision from the Court of Appeals stands, it sets a dangerous precedent that effectively immunises the sale of art forgeries, allowing the seller to claim it is real even if it is fake and for there to be absolutely no consequences for doing so.

Serova is asking that the Supreme Court step in, rehear the case, and give her another opportunity to demonstrate why Sony and the Jackson Estate should be held accountable for their decision to commercially release and sell a falsely advertised fraudulent product from which they continue to profit.

Stay tuned for further updates on Serova’s Supreme Court of California petition.

Jackson fans launch campaign to have fake songs removed from 2010 album

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http://www.damienshields.com/supreme-co ... ongs-case/
BREAKING: Supreme Court rules to hear case of fan versus Sony Music & Michael Jackson Estate in fake songs lawsuit

By Damien Shields

THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA has today ruled that it will hear the case of Vera Serova versus Sony Music and The Estate of Michael Jackson regarding the advertisement and commercial distribution of three allegedly-forged songs attributed to the late pop superstar on the Michael album since December 2010.

The ruling is a huge step towards justice for plaintiff Serova as she attempts to hold Sony Music and the Jackson Estate accountable for their decision to falsely advertise and sell a fraudulent product to Michael Jackson fans around the world.

Last month, on November 7, 2018, Serova and her legal team completed the process of petitioning the Supreme Court of California to intervene as a last gasp attempt to force Sony and the Jackson Estate to face the music. The corporations were controversially dismissed from the case in August this year, when the Court of Appeal ruled that they should be able to sell forgeries as the real deal—as long as they didn’t know the songs were fake.

Today, the seven Justices of the Court who reviewed Serova’s petition ruled that the Supreme Court should hear the case. The Justices felt the Court of Appeal’s ruling that corporations should be allowed to advertise and sell fake art as authentic was problematic in the eyes of the law.

Serova contends that the three songs at the centre of her lawsuit (“Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up” and “Monster”) were released by Sony and the Jackson Estate with fake vocals—sung not by the King of Pop, but by a soundalike.

The three allegedly-fake songs were sold to Sony and the Jackson Estate in mid-2010 by music producers and longtime Jackson friends Eddie Cascio and James Porte as part of a collection of twelve songs they claim Jackson recorded in their basement in 2007. Serova’s lawsuit contends Jackson did no such thing, instead claiming that Porte and Cascio masterminded the most high-profile art forgery in the history of the music business.

Additional litigation remains pending against Cascio and Porte, who have been sued by Serova for fraud. The case against Cascio and Porte has been on hold for almost two years now. The delay comes as a result of Sony and the Jackson Estate’s continued appeals. But the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case could result in new activity in the fraud component of the case, including the possibility of new defendants being added.

The obvious candidate for inclusion in the fraud component of the lawsuit would be the alleged singer of the songs, Jason Malachi. The Jackson family alerted Sony and the Estate to the fact that they believed Malachi was the singer of the songs in question way back in October 2010—two months before the Michael album was released. Upon the album’s release, Malachi’s longtime producer and vocal coach, Tony Kurtis, went public with his insistence that Malachi was the singer of the songs. At that time, countless Jackson fans around the world also identified Malachi as the singer, recognising his voice—not Jackson’s—on the songs in question.

When confronted by Jackson fans online about having sung the vocals on the three allegedly-fake songs on the Michael album, YouTube user EvinVerma posted:


“Guys, don’t hate on Jason. He’s an individual with his own life to live. If he did sing on those tracks on Michael, which is obvious, then good for him to contribute to continue what the King wasn’t able to finish. Don’t blame Jason, blame Sony Music Entertainment.”

Malachi’s response:


“Thank you!!!”

Please follow the link to read the entire story.

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https://www.mjvibe.com/sony-wins-fake-m ... cond-time/


SONY WINS FAKE MICHAEL JACKSON RECORDING CLAIMS FOR SECOND TIME.
JANUARY 10, 2020



For a second time, Sony Music beat claims in California state court that it deceived customers about whether some tracks on a posthumous Michael Jackson album were sung by Jackson.

The Court of Appeal of California affirmed Jan. 8 that Sony’s statements were still protected under state law following a relevant California Supreme Court opinion published after its initial ruling.

Vera Serova, the Michael Jackson Fan that took the Estate & Sony to court over the 3 fake songs [“Breaking News”, “Monster” & “Keep your Head Up”] has again lost her appeal to prove wrong doing from Sony Music in the promotion of the album “Michael” released in 2010.

Sony, the Estate of Michael J. Jackson, and MJJ Productions appealed from the superior court’s order partially denying their motion to strike under the anti-SLAPP statute. Plaintiff alleged that defendants marketed a posthumous Michael Jackson album in violation of the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). Plaintiff also brought a fraud claim against the Cascio Defendants, alleging that they knowingly misrepresented to defendants that Jackson was the lead singer on the three tracks at issue.

Upon reconsideration in light of FilmOn.com Inc. v. Double Verify Inc. (2019) 7 Cal.5th 133, the Court of Appeal held that its prior opinion was correct. In the prior opinion, the court held that plaintiff’s claims against defendants arose from conduct furthering defendants’ right of free speech in connection with a public issue, and that plaintiff did not show a probability that her claims under the UCL and the CLRA would succeed because the claims concern noncommercial speech that is not actionable under those statutes.

The court largely adopted the prior opinion, except that it revised the discussion of the first step of the anti-SLAPP procedure to take into account the FilmOn decision and its application to the circumstances of this case. The court held that defendants’ challenged statements were sufficiently connected to an issue of public interest to warrant anti-SLAPP protection. In this case, the representations that plaintiff challenged did not simply promote sale of the album, but also stated a position on a disputed issue of public interest.

It seems this is the end of that chapter!

NOTE: As some fans have already twisted our words, we would like to clarify that MJVibe is disappointed that Sony has won this. Those 3 songs are fake and Sony, the Estate and all involved should be accounted responsible for their actions! The end of a Chapter is not the end of a book!
We see Vera Serova as a hero of our community! She took on her shoulder a massive task and went against multi-million corporations to seek the truth! No other fan is doing what she is doing!

[soulmum]

Damien Shields
@damienshields
BREAKING: Fake Michael Jackson Songs Lawsuit Boosted By Support From Consumer Protection Groups

http://www.damienshields.com/fake-songs ... on-groups/

The quest for justice in a class action lawsuit over a posthumous Michael Jackson album including 3 allegedly-fake songs has received a serendipitous boost on the 10th anniversary of the album’s release.

On Friday, December 11, 2020, the Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice filed an amicus curiae brief with the California Supreme Court in support of plaintiff Vera Serova’s ongoing lawsuit against Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson.

The powerfully-worded brief was co-signed by 8 additional consumer protection organisations. Click here to read it in full.

Serova’s lawsuit, filed in 2014, alleges that Sony and the Estate misled her and millions of consumers when they commercially released the Michael album on December 14, 2010 – exactly ten years ago today.

The lawsuit alleges that three songs on the album are forgeries sung by an impostor vocalist, and that Sony and the Estate falsely advertised those songs to consumers as authentic Jackson material.

The three songs at the centre of the lawsuit – Breaking News, Monster and Keep Your Head Up – were originally co-written and produced by Eddie Cascio and James Porte, who are co-defendants in the fraud component of the case.

The consumer protection organisations wrote in their joint filing on Friday that Serova’s is a “straightforward case of deceptive advertising.”

Yet the case has been in legal limbo for more than four years.

Back in 2016, Sony and the Estate filed an anti-SLAPP motion against Serova, claiming that her lawsuit was a ‘strategic lawsuit against public participation’ (SLAPP) intended to deny the billion-dollar corporations their purported constitutional right to sell fake songs as authentic Jackson material.

For the purposes of their legal arguments, Sony and the Estate conceded that Jackson was not the singer of the three songs in question. To be clear, this was not an outright admission that Jackson was not singing – after 6 years in court, that issue hasn’t even been addressed yet.

Rather, their concession was made in order to prevent Serova from presenting evidence that the songs are fakes. Under normal circumstances, Serova would have been required to demonstrate that her case wasn’t a shakedown, and that she could substantiate her claims with supporting evidence.

But Sony and the Estate said that it didn’t matter if they were fake, arguing that the law allows them to lie to consumers regardless.

Their argument centres around their assertion that the statements made as part of the album’s promotional material – including on the album cover and in a TV commercial – are not commercial in nature. Yes, they’re arguing that the speech in a commercial isn’t commercial speech.

“If we ripped people off and it’s noncommercial speech, they lose under the statutes,” said Sony lawyer Zia Modabber in court. “That is just the law.”

In August 2018, the corporations succeeded in their bid to be dismissed from the case. Serova fought back, petitioning the California Supreme Court to intervene, which they did. But when the case was sent back to the Appeals Court in January 2020, Sony and the Estate were yet again dismissed.

Shockingly, the Appeals Court ruled that Sony and the Estate should be allowed to lie to consumers by selling fake songs as authentic Jackson material. And so Serova petitioned the California Supreme Court a second time, seeking a review of the Appeals Court’s bizarre ruling.

As reported here in April, the Supreme Court found that the Appeals Court’s ruling was legally problematic and granted Serova’s petition for review.

In their filing on Friday, the consumer protection organisations supporting Serova’s case took aim at Sony and the Estate’s application of the anti-SLAPP statute, writing that it “does not provide a get-out-of-jail-free card to forgers.”

Under the stipulation governing this proceeding, Sony’s promotion of Michael plainly violates California’s statutes protecting consumers from false and misleading advertising. Sony marketed Michael as “a brand new album from the greatest artist of all time,” with “9 previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson.” Because, as the parties have agreed for purposes of this appeal, three of the nine songs were not sung by Michael Jackson, Sony has made advertising statements that were untrue and misleading and has therefore violated California’s basic consumer protection laws. – Amicus curiae brief, Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice et al., December 11, 2020.

The anti-SLAPP statute is intended to protect David from Goliath – to shield the general public against the limitless funds and resources of wealthy corporations, and to prevent those corporations from intimidating the public into abandoning legal action against them.

The consumer protection organisations state in their filing that Sony and the Estate have misused the anti-SLAPP statute to achieve the exact opposite of its intended purpose:

What the present proceeding entails is the misuse of the anti-SLAPP statute by a well-funded corporation to try to silence individual consumer claims arising from what are conceded to be, for purposes of this appeal, the corporation’s misleading commercial statements. In other words, this action embodies precisely the reverse of what the anti-SLAPP statute is intended to accomplish.

The consumer protection organisations concluded their 47-page filing with the following:

The anti-SLAPP statute must not be misused to undermine California’s consumer protection laws. When Sony promoted Michael, it engaged in misleading or deceptive advertising. Sony has no free speech right to deceive consumers. Ms. Serova’s claim for misleading advertising is not a “strategic lawsuit against public participation.” To the contrary: it is a straightforward deceptive advertising action brought to vindicate precisely the individual rights that both California’s consumer protection laws and its anti-SLAPP statute are designed to protect.

The California Attorney General’s Office has also stepped in, requesting an extension to file their own amicus brief in support of Serova.

This means that when the California Supreme Court hears Serova’s case sometime next year, she will not only have the support of at least 9 independent consumer protection organisations, but also the backing of the California state government.

[soulmum]

UPDATE: The Los Angeles City Attorney's office
@CityAttorneyLA
has also joined the chorus of supporters behind Serova's case, formally requesting an extension to file an amicus brief. Full story here:
http://www.damienshields.com/fake-songs ... on-groups/

[soulmum]

http://www.damienshields.com/california ... on-estate/
Californian Government Joins Fraud Lawsuit Against Sony Music and Jackson Estate
BY DAMIEN SHIELDS –

The California state government has officially joined a class action lawsuit against Michael Jackson’s estate and record company.

In a press release issued yesterday, the state’s Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, accuses Sony of “shirking responsibility” for making “false and misleading claims” about a posthumously released Michael Jackson album, and then declaring ignorance of their misrepresentation.

The Attorney General also filed an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court, urging them to intervene in the case of Serova vs Sony Music Entertainment, et al., for fear that “broad, destabilising consequences for well-established false advertising principles,” could be felt if it did not take action and rectify a problematic Appeals Court decision in the case.

The lawsuit at the centre of the amicus brief was filed almost 7 years ago. The suit alleges that Sony Music and the Jackson Estate misled consumers when they commercially released the Michael album, comprising 10 tracks, in December 2010.

The plaintiff in the case, Vera Serova, insists that three of the 10 tracks on Michael are part of an elaborate artistic fraud masterminded by co-defendants Eddie Cascio and James Porte, who sold the tracks to Jackson’s Estate for millions of dollars after the superstar’s death.

Serova alleges that those three tracks, known as the Cascio tracks, are fakes sung by an impostor. And she’s not alone.

Months before the album was released, members of the Jackson family warned Sony and the Estate regarding the Cascio tracks, insisting that they were fakes and should not be released. One of the Estate’s co-executors, John McClain, agreed with the Jackson family.

In response, Sony issued a press release stating that they had “complete confidence in the results of their extensive research” that the vocals were authentic. The company then released the album, including three Cascio tracks, against the family’s wishes.

Sony even went as far as to explicitly inscribe on the album cover that the vocals on all the album’s tracks were “performed by Michael Jackson.”

But despite Sony’s repeated assurances that the vocals were legit, when Jackson’s fans got their hands on the album and heard the Cascio tracks for themselves, a huge controversy ensued. Thousands upon thousands of fans around the world instantly rejected them as fakes.

Ironically, this very controversy – which Sony itself created by releasing the Cascio tracks – is one of the many points the company has since tried to raise as a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Sony says that because thousands of people were questioning the authenticity of the vocals, the company’s claim that Jackson sang them was not commercial in nature, but merely their non-commercial contribution to the ongoing authenticity debate.

But the Attorney General argues that Sony’s logic is absurd. The fact that there were questions over the vocals, the AG says, only increased Sony’s need be sure that the songs were indeed authentic if they intended on claiming they were:

“Questions about the authenticity of songs allegedly recorded by Michael Jackson shortly before his death naturally led to significant interest and debate among fans, members of the media, and the public more generally. That level of interest made it all the more important for Sony to provide accurate information about the songs to consumers.”

The AG added: “It would seriously frustrate the State’s interest in combating false or misleading advertising to immunise a seller from liability merely because its claims bear some relation to a matter of public interest or a public figure.”

Moreover, the Attorney General completely rejects Sony’s claims that their speech wasn’t commercial in nature.

Because the album cover explicitly stated that the songs were “performed by Michael Jackson,” Sony was bound to that statement as being the truth, and could be held liable under consumer protection laws if it were proven otherwise.

“A seller’s description of a product on a label or in an advertisement is a classic form of commercial speech. Thus, assuming Serova’s allegations are true, application of California’s false advertising statutes fully comports with the First Amendment.”

In the press release issued yesterday to alert the media of the California state government’s support of Serova’s lawsuit, Attorney General Becerra said:

“Products must deliver on their claims. If someone buys an album from a recording artist, they should expect that the songs on the album were made by that artist unless noted otherwise… We must hold companies accountable to stand by their products. Companies have a First Amendment right to communicate, but their claims must be informed and accurate.”

Sometime in mid-February the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office is due to join the California Attorney General and the nine other consumer protection groups already supporting Serova’s case. No amicus brief has been filed in support of Sony or the Jackson Estate.

A date for the oral hearing of these briefs is yet to be set.

A podcast series called Faking Michael is in the works, detailing a decade-long investigation of this case. You can subscribe to Faking Michael on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Damien Shields is the author of Michael Jackson: Songs & Stories From The Vault – a book examining the King of Pop’s creative process on a collection of previously-unreleased songs which were ultimately released years after his death. The book is available in physical and digital formats via Amazon and iBooks.