Hello Goodbye: Jackson`s Beatles rights at risk

By Gina Keating
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beatles For Sale?
The Fab Four`s prized catalog -- specifically 267 songs mostly written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney -- is embarking on a long and winding road of ownership uncertainty following the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday.
The pop singer and Sony Corp`s Sony Music arm operated a lucrative joint venture that either owns or administers the copyrights to about 750,000 compositions written by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers.
Industry analysts estimate that Sony/ATV Music Publishing is worth at least $1 billion, making Jackson one savvy entertainer. His initial investment cost him $47.5 million in 1985. Music publishing is considered a license to print money. Not quite as exciting as the piracy-ravaged recorded-music side, it involves collecting royalties from such diverse avenues as downloads, radio airplay and videogames.
But mystery now surrounds the beneficial ownership of Jackson`s stake. According to a lawsuit filed in 2002 by a creditor, he secured bank loans totaling $270 million two years earlier using both his Sony/ATV stake and the copyrights to his own songs as collateral.
Jackson lived an extravagant lifestyle, even as his commercial appeal dwindled amid damaging child-abuse allegations and changing music tastes. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2005 that his cash reserves ran so low earlier that year that he worried about paying his electric bill. The paper reported earlier this month that he had racked up about $500 million of debt.
"VERY COMPLEX" VALUATIONS
A clearer picture of his finances will emerge during the administration period of his estate that usually lasts about 18 months, said Renee Gabbard of the law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Costa Mesa, California.
Jackson`s executors will evaluate his assets, file the estate tax return and invite creditors to submit invoices, said Gabbard, who has a number of wealthy clients with entertainment-related estates.
The process of valuing estate assets, especially intellectual property like music copyrights, is "very complex" and often takes "quite a while," said Gabbard.
"When you have entertainers and musicians they usually have quite extensive royalty contracts. It`s very tough to put a value on a catalog of songs," she said.
Jackson and Sony formed their joint venture in 1995, with the singer contributing ATV Songs, whose 4,000 tunes included most of the Beatles catalog. He had bought ATV a decade earlier from Australian businessman Robert Holmes a Court, famously outbidding McCartney in the process.
Jackson was not involved in the day-to-day operations of Sony/ATV, but as a lover of the songwriting process was known to be "incredibly proud" of the company and its fast growth, according to a publishing industry source.
A spokesman for Sony/ATV declined to comment.
His stakes in both Sony/ATV and in Mijac, which holds his own copyrights, were owned by trusts. It was not clear if they were irrevocable or not. If they are revocable, then they could be dismantled to satisfy creditors, Gabbard said.  Continued...
Original article

Michael Jackson death still unsolved after autopsy

By Dan Whitcomb and Laura Isensee
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Doctors conducted an autopsy on the body of Michael Jackson on Friday but could not immediately determine what killed the "King of Pop," amid reports he had been injected with a narcotic painkiller shortly before collapsing.
Jackson was in full cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived at his rented mansion in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, with his personal physician trying desperately to revive him.
The 50-year-old pop superstar was rushed to nearby UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead without regaining consciousness.
"The cause of death (determination) has been deferred, which means that the medical examiner has ordered additional testing such as toxicology and other studies," Los Angeles County Coroner`s spokesman Craig Harvey said. "Those tests we anticipate will take an additional four to six weeks."
Speaking to a throng of reporters outside the coroner`s office, Harvey said, "There was no indication of any external trauma or indication of foul play to the body of Mr. Jackson."
Police said they were seeking to question Jackson`s personal physician, identified by news media as Houston-based cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray.
Jackson`s body will be released to family members after they choose a mortuary for funeral arrangements, Harvey said. There was no immediate word on when he would be laid to rest.
Celebrity website TMZ.com, citing an interview with an unidentified "close member" of the Jackson family, reported the entertainer was injected with Demerol about half an hour before he went into cardiac arrest.
DAILY SHOT OF DEMEROL?
TMZ, citing family members, said Jackson received a daily shot of Demerol, a narcotic painkiller, and that the family believed his death was caused by an overdose of the drug.
Detectives searched Jackson`s home and impounded Murray`s Mercedes from the driveway, saying it might contain evidence.
An unidentified man called a 911 emergency phone line from the mansion at 12:21 p.m. local time, saying Jackson was unconscious and not breathing.
In excerpts from the call released by authorities, the caller said the physician was the only other person present and was frantically performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the unconscious Jackson without results.
"He`s pumping, he`s pumping his chest but he`s not responding to anything, sir, please," the man said.
A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that Jackson was "heavily addicted" to the painkiller Oxycontin and was injected daily with that medication, along with Demerol.  Continued...
Original article

Michael Jackson feared he`d "end up" like Elvis: Lisa Marie

By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson`s former wife Lisa Marie Presley said on Friday the pop star was a tortured soul who once predicted that he would "end up" like her father, the late rock icon Elvis Presley.
Writing on her MySpace blog, Presley also ripped into reports in the media that her relationship with Jackson was contrived, saying they split because she could not save him from self-destructive behavior.
"Our relationship was not a `a sham` as is being reported in the press," Presley, 41, wrote in the blog posting, which was verified by her spokesperson.
She called it an "unusual relationship" but added: "Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much."
Presley, the only daughter of the original "King of Rock `n` Roll" and a performer in her own right, describes having a conversation with Jackson about her father`s August 16, 1977 death. Elvis Presley died at age 42 of a heart attack after years of drug use.
"At some point he (Jackson) paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty: `I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.`"
Presley wrote that she tried to deter Jackson from the idea, but he shook his head and nodded "as if he knew what he knew" and would not be dissuaded.
"As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play the exact scenario I saw happen on August 16, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (a sight I never wanted to see again), just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted," she said.
Presley wrote that she and Jackson`s family tried to save him from "the inevitable, which is what just happened" but she became overwhelmed and had to end their relationship.
"I became very ill and emotionally/ spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behavior and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetize around him," she wrote.
(Editing by Will Dunham)
Original article