Anxiety said:

This is the email that was posted here as coming from web sheriff:

"Dear Administrators,

Re : EXTREMELY URGENT / YOUR SITE - LIBEL NOTICE

As you know, Web Sheriff represents AEG Worldwide, Paisley Park Enterprises / NPG Records and PRINCE in relation to – inter alia – the above.

We understand that you (ergo your administrators and moderators personally) control the web-site www.princefansunited.com (hereinafter referred to as the “Libellous Site”). We are writing to advise you that our clients consider the Libellous Site to contain defamatory statements – all under the banner ”PRINCE FANS FIGHT BACK AGAINST ATTACKS” which, in itself, we would also say is defamatory - that both libel PRINCE and, equally, that constitute malicious falsehoods injurious to our clients’ business interests (hereinafter referred to as the “Libellous Statements”) including, but not limited to, the following :-

1. In an extraordinary, but not unfamiliar move, the rock legend Prince is using an army of lawyers to launch attacks on his own fans.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Our clients consider the above statements to be both factually incorrect and misleading and, in all of the circumstances, we would ask you to immediately remove the Libellous Site (as containing the Libellous Statements or anything else that could constitute a libel and / or a malicious falsehood in respect of our clients) : this is particularly urgent, as we gather that your site is about to be publicly launched to the world’s media by means of a press-release and, if this were to happen, the scope for damage to our clients’ reputations (and, equally, the scope for compensatory damages to our clients) would be very significantly increased. Should you fail to comply with our clients’ reasonable request (as contained herein) and, therefore, should you continue to publish the Libellous Statements on a joint and several basis, we would kindly ask you to provide us with the names and addresses of your lawyers in Holland, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, for the purposes of dealing with the appropriate legal actions that shall follow against the officers of your site personally.

We shall look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Whilst writing, we would caution you against communicating any further correspondence or remarks to third parties that could, in any way, be construed as being libellous of PRINCE or that could otherwise constitute a malicious falsehood, injurious to our clients’ business interests. Similarly, we would remind you that this communication is the copyright of Web Sheriff and, as such, any publication and / or dissemination to third parties would be actionable. Furthermore, Web Sheriff cannot be held liable for the consequences of any such publication and / or dissemination in the event that the same originated from yourselves or parties connected to you.

Naturally and notwithstanding the foregoing, all accumulated, worldwide rights and remedies of our clients in this matter remain strictly reserved.

Yours sincerely,

WEB SHERIFF"

According to the Yahoo article web sheriff stated this to Reuters:


"At no time is Prince suing his fans and this is not about freedom of speech," said John Giacobbi, managing director of Internet policing specialist Web Sheriff.

"The current issue is one between Prince's record label and three unofficial Web sites and relates to the use of Prince trademarks and photographs, many of which are Prince's copyright," he told Reuters."

Is it just me or do those two statements contradict each other???

That last statement is clearly contradicted in the email by the insistence of the removal of "libellous" and "defamatory" material, nothing to do with images as is quoted in the Reuters interview

Anxiety said:

This is the email that was posted here as coming from web sheriff:

"Dear Administrators,

Re : EXTREMELY URGENT / YOUR SITE - LIBEL NOTICE

As you know, Web Sheriff represents AEG Worldwide, Paisley Park Enterprises / NPG Records and PRINCE in relation to – inter alia – the above.

We understand that you (ergo your administrators and moderators personally) control the web-site www.princefansunited.com (hereinafter referred to as the “Libellous Site”). We are writing to advise you that our clients consider the Libellous Site to contain defamatory statements – all under the banner ”PRINCE FANS FIGHT BACK AGAINST ATTACKS” which, in itself, we would also say is defamatory - that both libel PRINCE and, equally, that constitute malicious falsehoods injurious to our clients’ business interests (hereinafter referred to as the “Libellous Statements”) including, but not limited to, the following :-

1. In an extraordinary, but not unfamiliar move, the rock legend Prince is using an army of lawyers to launch attacks on his own fans.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Our clients consider the above statements to be both factually incorrect and misleading and, in all of the circumstances, we would ask you to immediately remove the Libellous Site (as containing the Libellous Statements or anything else that could constitute a libel and / or a malicious falsehood in respect of our clients) : this is particularly urgent, as we gather that your site is about to be publicly launched to the world’s media by means of a press-release and, if this were to happen, the scope for damage to our clients’ reputations (and, equally, the scope for compensatory damages to our clients) would be very significantly increased. Should you fail to comply with our clients’ reasonable request (as contained herein) and, therefore, should you continue to publish the Libellous Statements on a joint and several basis, we would kindly ask you to provide us with the names and addresses of your lawyers in Holland, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, for the purposes of dealing with the appropriate legal actions that shall follow against the officers of your site personally.

We shall look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Whilst writing, we would caution you against communicating any further correspondence or remarks to third parties that could, in any way, be construed as being libellous of PRINCE or that could otherwise constitute a malicious falsehood, injurious to our clients’ business interests. Similarly, we would remind you that this communication is the copyright of Web Sheriff and, as such, any publication and / or dissemination to third parties would be actionable. Furthermore, Web Sheriff cannot be held liable for the consequences of any such publication and / or dissemination in the event that the same originated from yourselves or parties connected to you.

Naturally and notwithstanding the foregoing, all accumulated, worldwide rights and remedies of our clients in this matter remain strictly reserved.

Yours sincerely,

WEB SHERIFF"

According to the Yahoo article web sheriff stated this to Reuters:


"At no time is Prince suing his fans and this is not about freedom of speech," said John Giacobbi, managing director of Internet policing specialist Web Sheriff.

"The current issue is one between Prince's record label and three unofficial Web sites and relates to the use of Prince trademarks and photographs, many of which are Prince's copyright," he told Reuters."

Is it just me or do those two statements contradict each other???

That last statement is clearly contradicted in the email by the insistence of the removal of "libellous" and "defamatory" material, nothing to do with images as is quoted in the Reuters interview

m3taverse said:

Come on m3ta. Don't be insulting. I just asked the question because Prince's people are calling the sites' owners liars.

Prince Image Ban Story Was " Exaggerated " ...

A company working on behalf of PRINCE has accused fans of exaggerating a story which claims the singer has ordered them to remove any image that bears his likeness from their websites. The singer's record company has hired internet monitoring company Web Sheriff to protect the Purple Rain star from internet copyright infringement - and they insist the fan sites have made the situation sound a lot worse than it actually is. The pop superstar angered many of his supporters after he was reported to have slapped an image ban on several high profile fan websites forbidding them to use any unauthorized pictures of him. The outraged websites joined forces to form Prince Fans United in protest and have vowed to fight any legal action. But Web Sheriff insist Prince himself has nothing to do with the lawsuit threat - it is the work of the "record label". Web Sheriff's managing director, John Giacobbi, says, "At no time is Prince suing his fans and this is not about freedom of speech. "The current issue is one between Prince's record label and three unofficial web sites and relates to the use of Prince trademarks and photographs, many of which are Prince's copyright."

http://www.contactmusic.c...ed_1049253

i'm beginning to think that web sheriff does really sloppy work and substitutes intimidation where accountability should be.

i'm beginning to think that web sheriff does really sloppy work and substitutes intimidation where accountability should be.

Anxiety said:

Wouldnt it be better to release the emails/letters from web sheriff to the press to show the contradictory nature of their statements?

i'm beginning to think that web sheriff does really sloppy work and substitutes intimidation where accountability should be.

i'm beginning to think that web sheriff does really sloppy work and substitutes intimidation where accountability should be.

Can the following scenario be completely ruled out at this stage?

Prince, known to be a control freak, hires some company to get copyright violations of his work removed from the web. They just take it too far and overdo everything, screw up, and then send out other letters in order to cover up their sloppy work. Maybe Prince hasn't really taken notice up to this very point where it is about to become a major media story.

Markland said:

Looks like the Web Sheriff is certainly inviting the site operators to do just that. Problem of course being that the Web Sheriff claims copyright on the letters.

EmancipationLover said:

Then that is his fault for being so sloppy in his business ventures.

Most of us could forgive an honest mistake but we have years of experience of Prince doing EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING so it is hardly unbelievable that he was in on it from the ground up.

.
[Edited 11/7/07 14:42pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Cryptic message on the 3121 website with sentences full of u, r, 2. He won't really answer because he knows he's wrong.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

1) I never said that it wasn't his fault - the boss is responsible for the employees...

2) If there is lots of precedence for Prince doing such things, why are so many people so extremely upset then?

And the gloves have officialy come off... this is a letter being sent to individual users right now:

Subject: PRINCE
From: "DS"
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 15:36:59 -0000
To:
Web Sheriff
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013 / Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com www.websheriff.com
STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
ATTENTION ADDRESSEES ONLY
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Hi XXXXX

On behalf of AEG Worldwide and NPG / PRINCE, we would kindly ask you not to file-share illegal / unauthorized
bootleg and pirate recordings of PRINCE (whether through XXX or elsewhere). For your info, XXXX is now being
closed down and we would again kindly ask you not to try and join any att empted replacement ring, network, forum or
site.
As you may be aware, web-traffic relating to PRINCE's intellectual property rights is now being monitored and, where
appropriate, removed … .. and not just by Web Sheriff, but also by music industry associations / attorneys so, if you
insist upon collecting bootleg / pirate recordings - which, obviously, PRINCE would rather that you didn't - then please
retain them for personal use off-line / do not ‘broadcast’ thevmia web-rings, forums, p2p applications or blogs etc.
On behalf of AEG Worldwide and NPG / PRINCE, we do appreciate that - of course - you are valued fans of / are
promoting PRINCE
but, by the same token, you must also appreciate that, by distributing bootleg or pirate recordings (or linking to similar
material), you are potentially causing considerable inconvenience and we are sure that you would not want to be
personally responsible (or liable) for any of the resulting damage and dsiruption.
Whilst writing, we’d add that PRINCE / NPG and AEG Worldwide are not at all against free music but, at the end of
the day, it should be (and is) the artist’s decision as to whether or n ohte effectively allows the unauthorized distribution
of (unauthorized) material on-line - as it’s HIS MUSIC / PERFORMANCE !! Thank you, again, for respecting their
wishes.
As you will appreciate, this e-mail - containing, as it does, a position that is potentially prejudicial to our clients’
enforcement of their rights - is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients’ accumulated,
worldwide rights remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required f ormality.
With Thanks & Regards,
WEB SHERIFF

And the gloves have officialy come off... this is a letter being sent to individual users right now:

Subject: PRINCE
From: "DS"
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 15:36:59 -0000
To:
Web Sheriff
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013 / Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com www.websheriff.com
STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
ATTENTION ADDRESSEES ONLY
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Hi XXXXX

On behalf of AEG Worldwide and NPG / PRINCE, we would kindly ask you not to file-share illegal / unauthorized
bootleg and pirate recordings of PRINCE (whether through XXX or elsewhere). For your info, XXXX is now being
closed down and we would again kindly ask you not to try and join any att empted replacement ring, network, forum or
site.
As you may be aware, web-traffic relating to PRINCE's intellectual property rights is now being monitored and, where
appropriate, removed … .. and not just by Web Sheriff, but also by music industry associations / attorneys so, if you
insist upon collecting bootleg / pirate recordings - which, obviously, PRINCE would rather that you didn't - then please
retain them for personal use off-line / do not ‘broadcast’ thevmia web-rings, forums, p2p applications or blogs etc.
On behalf of AEG Worldwide and NPG / PRINCE, we do appreciate that - of course - you are valued fans of / are
promoting PRINCE
but, by the same token, you must also appreciate that, by distributing bootleg or pirate recordings (or linking to similar
material), you are potentially causing considerable inconvenience and we are sure that you would not want to be
personally responsible (or liable) for any of the resulting damage and dsiruption.
Whilst writing, we’d add that PRINCE / NPG and AEG Worldwide are not at all against free music but, at the end of
the day, it should be (and is) the artist’s decision as to whether or n ohte effectively allows the unauthorized distribution
of (unauthorized) material on-line - as it’s HIS MUSIC / PERFORMANCE !! Thank you, again, for respecting their
wishes.
As you will appreciate, this e-mail - containing, as it does, a position that is potentially prejudicial to our clients’
enforcement of their rights - is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients’ accumulated,
worldwide rights remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required f ormality.
With Thanks & Regards,
WEB SHERIFF

Rhondab said:

It really is.

And you know he's going to come out and say:

"Fams,

Our cre8or has blessed me with the gifts eye share with the world. Eye feel blessed 2 b able 2 do so. Eye only ask 4 the same respect u would show 2 ur friends and family, which is 2 use my image and art only with my permission. Eye am asking my fams 2 respect my wishes. It is meant in the spirit love4oneanother. All praise 2 the almighty Jehova.

Peace, Prince"


And his Fams are going to go, "aw, u know, he's right, it is just a matter of respect. we can talk about our love of his music without actually posting the lyrics. we know them all anyway! the h8ers should really go somewhere else. we love u, Prince! the check is in the mail. . ."


And the rest of us are going to go, "mutual respect doesn't generally involve lawyers ".

And then either the fansites will roll over, or shut down, or they will find the resources to fight him. And all of those options are lame.


And WHY are things in this state?


Because the man gots issues.


We all do, right? If we were only gonna love issue-free people, it would be a lonely world. People can have issues. People can express their issues. People can ask for help with their issues. All of that applies to Prince.

What I've had about enough of, though, is people who think it is their RIGHT to make their own pathology into everybody else's problem. Which is what Prince is doing. And I can feel all kinds of happy mushy stuff towards him and his music, but his behavior is ridiculous and we've got every right to say so.

And certainly the right to stand up for ourselves.

By suggesting Prince has a small penis or maybe a virgina is very defamatory and libous.

These kinds of flipant remarks are highly damaging for Prince's business interests.

What if new fans belived he had a small penis, they probably would'nt buy his stuff or attend his concerts.

darrenj said:

God only knows what fans would do, if they found out he had a "virginia".....
all hell would break loose!!!

m3taverse said:

That is a totally different tone from the last email that was made public on here

There is nothing unreasonable in that email, quite the opposite

The email is restricted to material over which Prince does hold the intellectual property rights, i.e. his music

What is confusing is it appears to originate from "DS" and seems to be sent TO web sheriff not from, despite the fact it is signed "web sheriff"

So it looks like web sheriff is sending emails to itself to tell itself not to have anything to do with bootlegs???

Doesn't make sense

And the gloves have officialy come off... this is a letter being sent to individual users right now:

Subject: PRINCE
From: "DS"
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 15:36:59 -0000
To:
Web Sheriff
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013 / Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com www.websheriff.com
STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
ATTENTION ADDRESSEES ONLY
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Hi XXXXX

On behalf of AEG Worldwide and NPG / PRINCE, we would kindly ask you not to file-share illegal / unauthorized
bootleg and pirate recordings of PRINCE (whether through XXX or elsewhere). For your info, XXXX is now being
closed down and we would again kindly ask you not to try and join any att empted replacement ring, network, forum or
site.
As you may be aware, web-traffic relating to PRINCE's intellectual property rights is now being monitored and, where
appropriate, removed … .. and not just by Web Sheriff, but also by music industry associations / attorneys so, if you
insist upon collecting bootleg / pirate recordings - which, obviously, PRINCE would rather that you didn't - then please
retain them for personal use off-line / do not ‘broadcast’ thevmia web-rings, forums, p2p applications or blogs etc.
On behalf of AEG Worldwide and NPG / PRINCE, we do appreciate that - of course - you are valued fans of / are
promoting PRINCE
but, by the same token, you must also appreciate that, by distributing bootleg or pirate recordings (or linking to similar
material), you are potentially causing considerable inconvenience and we are sure that you would not want to be
personally responsible (or liable) for any of the resulting damage and dsiruption.
Whilst writing, we’d add that PRINCE / NPG and AEG Worldwide are not at all against free music but, at the end of
the day, it should be (and is) the artist’s decision as to whether or n ohte effectively allows the unauthorized distribution
of (unauthorized) material on-line - as it’s HIS MUSIC / PERFORMANCE !! Thank you, again, for respecting their
wishes.
As you will appreciate, this e-mail - containing, as it does, a position that is potentially prejudicial to our clients’
enforcement of their rights - is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients’ accumulated,
worldwide rights remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required f ormality.
With Thanks & Regards,
WEB SHERIFF

m3taverse said:

That is a totally different tone from the last email that was made public on here

There is nothing unreasonable in that email, quite the opposite

The email is restricted to material over which Prince does hold the intellectual property rights, i.e. his music

What is confusing is it appears to originate from "DS" and seems to be sent TO web sheriff not from, despite the fact it is signed "web sheriff"

So it looks like web sheriff is sending emails to itself to tell itself not to have anything to do with bootlegs???

Doesn't make sense