July 04, 2008

Prince v. Prince Fan Sites

Posted January 25th, 2008 by Matt C. Sanchez

Summary

Threat Type: Correspondence	Date: 11/06/2007
Status: Pending	Location: California, China, Netherlands
Disposition:	Verdict/Settlement Amount: n/a
Legal Claims: Copyright Infringement; Right of Publicity
Lawyers for the musician formerly known, and now currently known, as Prince have sent cease-and-desist letters and at least one DMCA takedown notice to the three largest Prince fansites, Prince.org, Princefams.com, and Housequake.com, demanding that... read full description

Parties

Party Issuing Legal Threat:	Party Receiving Legal Threat:
Prince	Princefans.com, Prince.org, and Housequake.com
Type of Party:	Type of Party:
Individual	Organization
Location of Party:	Location of Party:
Minnesota	California; China; Netherlands
Legal Counsel:	Legal Counsel:

Description

Lawyers for the musician formerly known, and now currently known, as Prince have sent cease-and-desist letters and at least one DMCA takedown notice to the three largest Prince fansites, Prince.org, Princefams.com, and Housequake.com, demanding that they remove all photographs, images, lyrics, album covers, and anything linked to Prince's likeness.

The fan sites were also requested to provide Prince's lawyers with "substantive details of the means by which you propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Enterprises, NPG Records and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)] for damages."

The fansites formed a coalition, Prince Fans United (PFU), which has issued a press release saying that the letter campaign goes too far, effectively stifling critical commentary and impinging on freedom of speech. It does not appear that a lawsuit been initiated.

Update:

3/13/2008 - Prince Fans United reported that negotiations between the coalition and Prince were at a standstill for unknown reasons.

Guardian: Prince threatens to sue his fans over online images

Likelihood of Confusion: Prince of Darkness

Prince Fans United website

TechCrunch: Prince, Has Lost The Plot; Prince, To Sue a Lot

BBC News: Prince sites face legal threats

Details

Website(s) Involved:	Content Type(s):
Prince.org, Princefams.com, and Housequake.com	Audio, Graphic, Photo, Text, Video
Publication Medium:	Subject Area(s):
Website	Copyright DMCA Right of Publicity

Court Information & Documents

Location of Filing/Threat:	Source of Law:
California, China, Netherlands	United States
Court Name:	Court Type:

Case Number:

Relevant Documents:

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Last updated on June 6th, 2008

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Prince v. Prince Fan Sites

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