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The Jacksons

Source: Paul Natkin / Getty

Michael Jackson’s estate and Sony Music have been cleared in the class-action lawsuit over using “fake” vocals on the late singer’s posthumous album. According to Complex, a fan filed a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate and Sony for allegedly using fake vocals on three songs released on the 2010 posthumous Michael album. Judges ruled on Tuesday (August 28th) that neither Sony nor the estate were certain if Jackson sang on the three songs in question, and that the album’s promotional materials were not “strictly commercial speech,” so they were not liable for the charges filed by the fan.

The court documents said, “Because [Sony Music, MJJ Productions and the Jackson estate] lacked actual knowledge of the identity of the lead singer on [‘Breaking News,’ ‘Monster,’ and ‘Keep Your Head Up’], they could only draw a conclusion about that issue from their own research and the available evidence. 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 site reports that many fans suspected that a singer named Jason Malachi is the one who performed the three records, “Breaking News,” “Monster“ and “Keep Your Head Up.” He apparently admitted it was him on Facebook in 2011, but his manager last said that the post was fake.

Howard Weitzman, the attorney for the estate said about the win, “We had a total victory in the appellate court in the Vera Serova Class Action matter.”