Michael Jackson hologram performs Slave To The Rhythm... and gets standing ovation at Billboard Music Awards
Courtesy of http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2632334/Michael-Jackson-hologram-performs-Slave-To-The-Rhythm-gets-standing-ovation-Billboard-Music-Awards.html#ixzz32AaDyRzG
VIDEO http://youtu.be/jDRTghGZ7XU
He died in June 2009 but Michael Jackson's music is still having audiences everywhere on their feet.
And on Sunday night a hologram of the late King Of Pop rocked the Billboard Music Awards.
The hologram, which was amazingly realistic, performed Slave To The Rhythm and even moonwalked across the stage.
The track is off Jackson's new posthumous album Xscape and was introduced by Ludacris, alongside his Rising Star co-hosts Kesha and Brad Paisley.
The hologram danced around the stage in a golden jacket and red trousers with fire shooting all around him, before appearing alongside several dancers, and began with Michael on a throne.
The onstage resurrection garnered a standing ovation by the massive star-studded audience, who were clearly moved by the performance nearly five years after his death - but it might not have happened.
Only on Friday did a federal judge rule that the Billboard Music Awards could use the hologram, rejecting efforts from tech companies seeking to block the digital performance.
Judge Kent Dawson said there wasn't enough evidence to show the planned 3-D image would violate patents held by Hologram USA Inc. and Musion Das Hologram Ltd.
The companies own rights to technology known for digitally resurrecting deceased rapper Tupac Shakur at the 2012 Coachella music festival.
Plans to use the hologram during the show Sunday emerged with the lawsuit, but weren't confirmed until the hearing Friday afternoon. Show producers had been promoting only a 'history-making performance' at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena that would promote Xscape.
Hologram USA and Musion said in their emergency lawsuit on Thursday that one of their products was being used without authorisation by a competitor to create a segment that depicts Jackson performing Slave to the Rhythm.
Attorney Michael Feder, representing the show and Jackson estate, filed a response on Friday, saying the holographic performance had been planned for months and was discussed with Alki David, who owns the rights to the technology that creates and projects lifelike images to appear alongside live performers through Hologram USA and Musion.
Plaintiff's attorney Ryan G. Baker said his clients were disappointed with the ruling, but the lawsuit will continue.
'It's only the very beginning of a case that will continue to be prosecuted by my clients, and ultimately they are confident that they will prevail and will recover all available damages for the defendants' infringing conduct,' Baker said.
Hologram USA obtained the rights to the patents after the bankruptcy of Florida effects house Digital Domain, which created the Shakur image to wide acclaim two years ago.
The lawsuit also named John C. Textor, the chairman of Florida-based Pulse Entertainment Corp. who was the former head of Digital Domain. Pulse is accused of using the hologram techniques without a proper license. A phone message left for Textor was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit names Atlanta-based Pulse Entertainment Inc. as a defendant. Spokesman Ken S. Johnson said the company was listed incorrectly because it had no connection the Billboard Music Awards.
In March, Hologram USA sued Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resorts International over its show, Michael Jackson ONE at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino. The show features a performance by a digital rendition of Jackson, which the company also contends is an unlicensed use of its technology.
The case is being handled in a Los Angeles federal court and Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resorts have been granted an extension until May 23 to respond to the lawsuit.
