|  | ||||||||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chilling Effects Clearinghouse > Copyright and Fair Use > Weather Reports > Prince Threatens to Sue Fansites | 
|
|  Prince Threatens to Sue FansitesPeter Ostrovski, November 12, 2007 Abstract: Prince is threatening to sue his biggest fansites for improperly hosting content featuring his likeness. As of last week, the artist once again known as Prince is threatening to sue his three biggest fansites, Princefans.com, Housequake.com, and prince.org, who have teamed up to form a coalition of solidarity, Prince Fans United. Prince's lawyers are asking for the removal of "all content featuring a likeness, image, identity and persona of Prince, Prince's creative work (lyrics, music, performance, album covers, etc.), and his trademarks." Prince Fans United indicated that the cease and desist letters went as far as demanding removal of fan photographs of Prince tattoos and license plates. We've gotten a hand on the cease and desist letters sent to prince.org, and they contain some interesting insights. The first letter comes from a Chicago law firm and alleges violations under Illinois law (Deceptive Trade Practice Act) and federal law (Prince's rights of publicity and copyright). If the jurisdiction of the first letter seems unusual (why Illinois?), that of the second is even more so--it is from a French law firm and cites violations of French law. Apparently Prince's lawyers are contemplating taking advantage of France's holder-friendly copyright laws by asserting violations of trademark infringement in website domain names and source code, along with violations of copyright, publicity rights, name trademark, image rights, and moral rights. Jurisdictional questions aside, Prince Fans United contends that the newsworthiness, public interest, and fair use doctrines would swing a case in their favor. While the threats have had some effect on the websites and the support of fans, the posting of images certainly hasn't slowed. Neither have Prince's litigation efforts. According to CNET, Prince also plans to sue torrent site The Pirate Bay for copyright violations. His lawyers are taking a multi-jurisdictional approach again, planning on filling suit in the U.S., France, and Sweden. In the next post, we will take a more careful look at the legal claims presented by Prince and the fansites to see who has the law on their side.
|
|
|
|
Related News