Angry fans may sue Prince
p2pnet news | Music:- Prince is no prince.
He’s already had a go at Holden Lenz, a little boy who likes Prince. His mother posted a YouTube of Holden doing his thing with Prince’s’s Let’s Go Crazy in the background, sparking a, Yup, copyright infringement claim.
Now, “In an extraordinary, but not unfamiliar move, the rock legend Prince is using an army of lawyers to launch attacks on his own fans,” says Karyn Avera.
But fans shouldn’t stand for it, she says, suggesting they should launch counter-suits against Prince, if push comes to shove.
And no, PFU doesn’t stand for that.
Rather, it means Prince Fans United, says Karyn, going on:
Several of the largest web communities dedicated to the artist have received notices to cease and desist all use of photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince’s likeness. It is our belief that these threats are not made in an attempt to enforce valid copyright as Prince alleges in his threats, rather we believe they are attempts to stifle all critical commentary about Prince. We strongly believe that such actions are in violation of the freedom of speech and should not be allowed. Prince claims that fansites are not allowed to present any artwork with Prince’s likeness, to the extreme that he has demanded removal of fan’s own photographs of their Prince inspired tattoos and their vehicles displaying Prince inspired license plates. P
rince’s representatives have requested that the fansites provide them with “substantive details of the means by which you [the fansites] propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Enterprises, NPG Records and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)] for damages…”
The owners of the three largest fansites supporting Prince: www.housequake.com, www.princefams.com and www.prince.org have come together to fight back to what amounts to an injustice to the fansites and the very fans who have supported Prince’s career, many since the very beginning nearly thirty years ago.
It is their hope that Prince will reconsider his position and allow these fansites to continue their existence without constant threats from Prince and his attorneys.
Should this not be possible, the fansites are fully prepared to defend their position in the proper court of law, as well as fully prosecute any claims to which they are justly entitled.
The owners of housequake.com, princefams.com and prince.org acknowledge that, while Prince is entitled to control of his copyrights, it should be within the law. The law clearly provides for displaying of images of a celebrity’s likeness for newsworthy events or matters which are considered to be public interest. All three websites feel that the photographs and/or likeness displayed on their websites clearly fall within the public interest category.
Additionally, the use of photographs is legal based on the fair use doctrine, i.e. the displaying of album cover art, or the collage headers created by website members using a variety of different photographs.
For housequake.com: Aaron A. Sikkink and Karyn Avera
For princefams.com: Endre Adolfsen and Jonathan Nice
For prince.org: Ben Margolin
You can contact Karyn at: pfu @ housequake dot co
(Thanks, Phil)
Also See:
Let’s Go Crazy – Toddler’s video upsets Prince, Octgober 26, 2007
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Angry_fans_may_sue_Prince
November 7th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Prince was one of the first to try to work with P2P why the sudden change because of Youtube?:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/1257831.stm
(back in 2001)
“NEW YORK — Funk and rock star Prince weighed in this week on music-sharing technology issues, calling services like Napster “exciting” and sharply criticizing the record industry for exploiting artists.”
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2000/08/38142
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=prince+napster&btnG=Google+Search
November 7th, 2007 at 11:08 am
I would seriously question the intelligence of someone who sues his own fans, not because they are profiting in any way, but simply for supporting said artist.
Oh wait, this sounds kinda familiar…
November 7th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I don’t much like Prince but I will make sure I post pictures and lyrics by him this week in defiance of this idiotly arrogant swaggering doofus dickbrain.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
What an arrogant idiot. Is he taking something?
I have no idea who Prince is and have never heard a note of his music, but what the hell does he gain from this apart from the total alienation of his fans, wherever they are.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Today is Wednesday, and Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day!
Sue me you little shrimp crybaby, I dare ya!
November 8th, 2007 at 7:53 am
I am not angy and I don’t wanna sue Prince at all. Not all fans are upset or angry maybe the wbsite oganisers might be upset with Prince but most Prinec fans I know are not against Prince at all – in fact we support him – his actions might be considered a little heavy handed but I think that is more to do with his “people” than him. As far as I can tell he did “ask” that his pictures be removed and his wishes observed and I for one as a “fan” not a fanatic – think thats ok and perfectly understandable. HQ, etc seem to imply that its more to do with free speach and critisim, but again I do not agree – there are a lot of fans that seem to complain about every little thing, some did not like the last album, some complained he don’t tour as much etc – but on the whole we as fans are not blinded by love and loyalty more we are united in our love and loyalty to a great musical innovated who has brought great love and joyment to so many people over so many years – I wish we could remember that and not this silly arguement that looks to be turning ugly and untruthful. Please stop it – after all its only pictures !! the man has given us so much especially for us in London over the last few months and I for one am extremely grateful – I got everything dream I ever wished for come true and thats down to one man !!!!! one man – come on people remember whats important here – the music !! love and peace to you all x
November 8th, 2007 at 7:53 am
I am not angy and I don’t wanna sue Prince at all. Not all fans are upset or angry maybe the wbsite oganisers might be upset with Prince but most Prinec fans I know are not against Prince at all – in fact we support him – his actions might be considered a little heavy handed but I think that is more to do with his “people” than him. As far as I can tell he did “ask” that his pictures be removed and his wishes observed and I for one as a “fan” not a fanatic – think thats ok and perfectly understandable. HQ, etc seem to imply that its more to do with free speach and critisim, but again I do not agree – there are a lot of fans that seem to complain about every little thing, some did not like the last album, some complained he don’t tour as much etc – but on the whole we as fans are not blinded by love and loyalty more we are united in our love and loyalty to a great musical innovated who has brought great love and joyment to so many people over so many years – I wish we could remember that and not this silly arguement that looks to be turning ugly and untruthful. Please stop it – after all its only pictures !! the man has given us so much especially for us in London over the last few months and I for one am extremely grateful – I got everything dream I ever wished for come true and thats down to one man !!!!! one man – come on people remember whats important here – the music !! love and peace to you all x
November 8th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Another one that will go down like metalika. Oh well! you can not stop human stupidity. I guess that this is the survival of the fitess and some of these guys are not fitted. I never listen to prince stuff anyway and I don’t know if it is good or bad. Since 99% of everything produced under the entertainment cartel is crap I asume that Prince stuff is crap too.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
My daughter’s not too happy about this. She asked me to shred her Prince poster & sell the pieces on ebay. where it is now