Jacko drops challenge to family belongings auction

Michael Jackson has dropped a legal challenge against that previously reported auction that will see over 1000 items of Jackson family merchandise go up for sale at the end of the month. The items due for sale came from a storage unit where the Jackson family reportedly failed to settle their debts. They came into the ownership of the company behind the auction by some kind of bankruptcy sale. When the date for the auction was originally set - 30-31 May - Jackson said he was considering legal action to stop it, but yesterday his people said a deal had been reached with the people auctioning off the items and that as a result the auction would now go ahead. Specifics of the settlement are unclear, though it seems some of the profits from the sale will now go to charity. Among the items up for sale are a gold record awarded to Jackson for Thriller in 1982, the original test pressing for the Jackson Five's 'I Want You Back' and Tito Jackson's handwritten lyrics for 'ABC'.