Michael Jackson estate and Sony Music cleared over 'fake' songs lawsuit, judges rule

Class-action suit continues against two parties accused of using an impersonator to fake material for posthumous 2010 album Michael

Michael Jackson's estate and record label cleared from 'fake' song lawsuit (Getty)

Sony Music and Michael Jackson’s estate have been cleared over a class-action lawsuit that alleged three songs on the singer’s 2010 album Michael, released posthumously, were sung by an impersonator.

The rights to the songs “Breaking News,” “Monster” and “Keep your Head Up” were questioned in 2014 by fan Vera Serova, who accused Eddie Cascio and his production company Angelikson Productions LLC of creating fake songs and selling them to the estate and Sony.

According to Serova, the songs are actually sung by Jason Malachi, a Jackson impersonator.

Prior to the release of the album in 2010, it was reported that Sony and the estate hired “forensic musicologists” to verify that Jackson was the singer.

The legal battle intensified earlier this month after Sony Music acknowledged in court that Jackson may not be the main singer on the songs, but argued that this would not mean they did not have the right to sell the songs under his name. Sony later clarified that its statement was “only for the purposes of this motion” and it reserved the riht to take another stance outside of the appeal.

On Tuesday, appeals court judges ruled in favour of Sony Music and the Michael Jackson estate on the basis that Sony and the estate did not know for a fact whether Jackson sung the songs.

Judges ruled that Sony and the estate cannot be held accountable under commercial speech and are protected by the First Amendment, according to court documents obtained by Pitchfork.

According to the court documents: “Under these circumstances, [Sony Music, MJJ Productions and the Jackson estate’s] representations about the identity of the singer amounted to a statement of opinion rather than fact.”

The case continues against Cascio and Angelikson.

Cascio denies the allegations.