When Michael Jackson released Heal The World, he said that he wanted to make it a better place.
Not just for you, though. For him as well. And the entire human race. Not animals, though. They can bugger off. Michael Jackson wasn’t particularly clear about how he wanted us to heal the world, but it turns out that using his likeness and trademarks to solicit charitable donations probably wasn’t what he had in mind. Because that’s allegedly what the Heal The World foundation did, and that’s why Michael Jackson’s estate is suing it.
Shh, nobody tell them about our Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day foundation, or we’ll be done for.
We don’t know why charities bother, sometimes. Because what’s the point of plugging away systematically at a small, focused problem? Wouldn’t it be much better to, say, set up a foundation designed to universally improve the condition of all mankind? All of it, mind you, not just the parts of mankind that are most needy. Because that’s not all mankind, is it? What about the Russian oligarchs, huh? They’re part of mankind, too. You can’t just give a handful of food to some starving orphans and not buy the Russian oligarchs a new speedboat. That’s favouritism.
That’s why we’ve got so much time for the Heal The World foundation, who we’ve literally only just heard of. The Heal The World foundation’s website says that it aims to ‘improve the condition of all mankind’, which seems like something that Michael Jackson would have approved of because he too was a fan of grand yet curiously empty statements.
But it turns out that Michael Jackson isn’t a fan of the Heal The World foundation at all. Apparently it infringes on some of his trademarks in an attempt to give the impression that the charity was approved by Michael Jackson himself, and that’s why Michael’s estate is suing it. Sorry mankind, looks like your condition won’t be improving at all for a while. AP reports:
The suit claims Jackson created a charity based on his hit “Heal the World” in 1992, but it dissolved a decade later. “Defendants’ acts of infringement and unfair competition have been committed with the intent to cause confusion, mistake and to deceive,” the lawsuit claims. The current Heal the World Foundation was formed in 2008 and trademarked its name.
Oh, this is a tricky one. Who to side with – a charity with a slightly wishy-washy catch-all agenda with a potentially dodgy sideline in donor-misleading, or the faceless suits who are actually suing a charity just so they can have the right to print the phrase ‘Heal The World’ next to Michael Jackson’s face on a range of opportunistic cash-in T-shirts whenever they feel like it?
Actually, we’re not going to side with anyone here. The only thing we’re going to take from this is that you should never, under any circumstances, start a charity based on the trademarks and lyrics of Michael Jackson. That’s bad news for the just-launched Earth Song foundation, though, which will probably have to change its slogan to something other than ‘Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah Ooooooooooh Ooooooooooh’ now. Drat.
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