MUMBAI: The Estate of Michael Jackson released a statement recently regarding a television special, The Last Days of Michael Jackson. The said show is slated to be aired today on ABC TV, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.

The Estate stated, “We want consumers to know that The Last Days of Michael Jackson, a television special airing on ABC TV (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) tomorrow May 24, is not sponsored or approved by the Estate of Michael Jackson.   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. “

ABC was using a copyrighted photo and silhouette image owned by the Estate in the trailers and promotional material for the special.  On this, the company further stated, “Only after our attorneys issued a notice to ABC News indicating they were infringing on our IP rights, the materials were removed.”

“We are told ABC intends to use music and other intellectual property owned by the Estate such as photos, logos, artwork, and more in the program itself, without having licensed the rights to any such material. Imagine if this was done with any of ABC’s intellectual property. 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,” the Estate of Michael Jackson further revealed.

Meanwhile, a statement on the behalf of ABC TV on the same is yet-to-come.