{{{ Associated Press
Published Sep 27, 2002

MINNEAPOLIS - Prince's production company is suing the operator of an Internet site that allegedly offered pirated recordings of the rock star's live performances from his Xenophobia concert series in June.

Chanhassen-based Paisley Park Enterprises filed the copyright-infringement lawsuit in federal court in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Prince, an artists' rights advocate long before Napster became a household name, filed at least nine lawsuits against Web sites in 1999, accuse them of selling bootlegged recordings of his and offering access to downloads of his songs.

Prince names Matthew Lankford of Seattle, operator of http://FreeMyHeart.com - a Web site devoted to singer Me'Shell NdegeOcello - where people who didn't shell out $100 a day for the events at Prince's Paisley Park complex could hear "Housequake" or "1+1+1 Is 3."

The lawsuit alleges Lankford broke federal copyright laws by allowing Web users to download Prince songs that included "specific information describing which day the unauthorized recording of the Xenophobia concert took place."

Lankford on Friday denied violating Prince's copyrights and said he doesn't think he's done anything illegal.}}}

"What he's claiming is that I put up files on my Web site. What happened is I put up links to other Web sites that had files on them," Lankford said.

Lankford said Prince sent his lawyers after him instead of going after the sites where the music files were actually posted or people who sell bootleg Prince CDs.

"I haven't been able to sleep," he said. "I've been unemployed since September 11th. One of my favorite artists is coming after me for promoting him on my Web site. For him to seek $150,000 per song to try to ruin me for doing nothing more than promoting him is ... overdoing it."

Lankford said he doesn't know how he's going to afford a lawyer to defend himself. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

He also said there's no mention of Prince on the Web site now, and that there won't be any in the future.

"Even though he's a prime target to be made fun of by the way he treats people, it's not worth it," Lankford said.

Prince's official site - http://www.npgmusicclub.com - says he plans to release a three-CD box set from is recent U.S. tour. He has not released anything from the Xenophobia sessions.