EU regulators to decide on Sony's Michael Jackson deal by August 1

EU antitrust authorities will rule by Aug. 1 whether to allow Sony Corp buy out the Michael Jackson estate's stake in its music publishing joint venture, a move which rivals such as Warner Music Group say gives Sony too much power. Sony requested approval on June 24, according to a filing on the European Commission website. Sony signed a deal in March to acquire the stake that the deceased pop star held in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the world's largest music publisher, which owns copyrights to m