Originally đã đăng May 27th 2010 1:00 AM PDT bởi TMZ Staff
An extremely fancy thắt lưng, vành đai commemorating Michael Jackson -- and allegedly "sanctioned" bởi Joe Jackson and Katherine Jackson -- can be yours for the bargain basement price of $1,500 -- problem is ... the whole thing may be illegal.
Check out this picture we got -- hiển thị Joe and Katherine Jackson signing one of the belts ... and according to the official website promoting the belts, MJ's three kids -- Prince, Paris, and Blanket -- also signed their names.
Here's the problem. The belts feature several hình ảnh trademarked bởi Michael Jackson -- including dancing feet, MJ's silhouette and the MJ crest -- and MJ's estate must authorize any commercial use of those trademarks, as well as MJ's name hoặc image.
So of course we called MJ estate lawyer Howard Weitzman, who đã đưa ý kiến the belts were news to him and that the executors never authorized the sale. Weitzman says, "The Trustees of the Estate of Michael Jackson did not authorize the making hoặc the sale of the Michael Jackson Tribute Belts." Weitzman continues, "We would never condone the use of Michael's children's signatures to promote the sale of merchandise."
We haven't found out who's behind the website ... but Jerry Olivarez, a PR guy and friend of the Jackson family, has been touting the sale of the belts. We're told the site goes live today and 7,000 belts will go up for sale. And, there will be an auction for the thắt lưng, vành đai signed bởi Joe, Katherine, and the kids -- opening bid is $5 grand.
Attempts to speak with Olivarez were unsuccessful.
Read more: link
An extremely fancy thắt lưng, vành đai commemorating Michael Jackson -- and allegedly "sanctioned" bởi Joe Jackson and Katherine Jackson -- can be yours for the bargain basement price of $1,500 -- problem is ... the whole thing may be illegal.
Check out this picture we got -- hiển thị Joe and Katherine Jackson signing one of the belts ... and according to the official website promoting the belts, MJ's three kids -- Prince, Paris, and Blanket -- also signed their names.
Here's the problem. The belts feature several hình ảnh trademarked bởi Michael Jackson -- including dancing feet, MJ's silhouette and the MJ crest -- and MJ's estate must authorize any commercial use of those trademarks, as well as MJ's name hoặc image.
So of course we called MJ estate lawyer Howard Weitzman, who đã đưa ý kiến the belts were news to him and that the executors never authorized the sale. Weitzman says, "The Trustees of the Estate of Michael Jackson did not authorize the making hoặc the sale of the Michael Jackson Tribute Belts." Weitzman continues, "We would never condone the use of Michael's children's signatures to promote the sale of merchandise."
We haven't found out who's behind the website ... but Jerry Olivarez, a PR guy and friend of the Jackson family, has been touting the sale of the belts. We're told the site goes live today and 7,000 belts will go up for sale. And, there will be an auction for the thắt lưng, vành đai signed bởi Joe, Katherine, and the kids -- opening bid is $5 grand.
Attempts to speak with Olivarez were unsuccessful.
Read more: link
