The heirs of Michael Jackson, dubbed the "King of Pop," have blocked the sale of "extremely rare" unreleased recordings of the singer.
Last month, the auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll announced plans to auction off more than two dozen recordings allegedly recorded in 1994 at the New York studio The Hit Factory by Jackson, who died in June 2009 at the age of 50.
While the auction house expects prices of up to $4,000 for each tape, lawyers acting on behalf of Jackson's heirs said they would file a lawsuit, arguing that the recordings were "indisputably stolen."
The letter, written by attorney Jonathan Steinsapir on November 29 and published in Billboard magazine, demanded that the company "cease and desist any and all efforts to auction these recordings" and immediately return the recordings.
The letter stated:
"Neither Michael Jackson nor his record label Sony Music Entertainment ever sold or distributed the master tapes of his recording sessions at The Hit Factory (or anywhere else). These recordings were indisputably stolen or otherwise taken without authorization. Accordingly, the recordings are the property of the Jackson heirs."
"REPRODUCTION OF RECORDINGS STRICTLY PROHIBITED"
However, the auction house responded that it "will not comply with these requests". "We are writing to inform you that we plan to file a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in New York Supreme Court on December 13," the response letter said.
But the court's decision did not please the auction house, and the recordings were removed from sale. The decision stated that the reproduction of the tapes, including the titles "Oh Love", "New Jelly" and "Doing What My Heart", was "strictly prohibited".
The Gotta Have Rock and Roll company is still selling a number of other Jackson-related items. Among them is a red jacket from 1984, which is expected to fetch over 10 thousand dollars.
Michael Jackson went down in history as one of the most successful music artists of all time. The artist, who wrote many hit songs such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller", is estimated to have sold more than 400 million albums worldwide. He is also the first person to have five albums on the list of the world's best-selling albums. Jackson has always been on the agenda with his aesthetics, clothing style, famous friends and private life as much as his songs and stage performances.
