Lee Bailey's EUR/Electronic Urban Report

June 30 1999 (Wednesday)



The Artist (We ain't talkin' about Van Gogh) and Larry Graham
had the audience hyped at a Santana show in Minnesota last week
when they took the stage with the guitar legend. The duo joined the
band for the song "The Calling," one of the tracks from Santana's
new star-studded album "Supernatural." Both Graham and
the Artist are known for joining other performers on stage
for impromptu jamming.



Speaking of The Artist, he has just been named the victor
in a case that spanned five years. The U.S. Northern District Court
of Illinois decided to dismiss an alleged claim of copyright
infringement
filed against Prince. It began in 1994, when a guitar-maker named
Ferdinand Pickett filed suit against him claiming The Artist performed
with a Symbol-shaped guitar which resembled one that Pickett had
made. He (Pickett) alleged that this was infringement of his own
copyright in a Symbol-shaped guitar. The court decided in
favor of The Artist, based on the fact that Mr. Pickett could
not claim copyright infringement for something that was derivative
of a symbol already copyrighted by The Artist. (Ya got that? Anyway,
the bottom line is Prince won!)