How long before the org gets a letter about copyrighted images in the gallery on this site? (not to mention copyrighted lyrics that greet you when you log on.)

I love how people play armchair lawyers in situations like this.

The law is never black and white.

We all know that bootlegs are illegal. Prince's lawyers seem to be stating that discussing bootlegs in an open forum promotes the trading/selling of bootlegs and is also illegal. They cite a number of cases to back this up. I don't know if they are right or not. Could be they are... That will ultimately be up to a judge to decide. If a precedent has been set in a previous case then so be it. Thats the way the law works.....

As far as copyrighted images go, I'm sorry, but Prince has HQ over a barrel on that one. They can definitely insist that all images copyrighted to Prince or associated companies are removed from the site. Images of Prince *not* copyrighted to him are a different issue and it is up to the relevant copyright holder to decide whether they want to take action.

Who cares? Housequake suck. I've never seen a forum so completely devoid of personality.

ALL he can do is specifically request that the pictures he DOES hold the copyright for be removed.

headhunter said:

Good question. Hopefully never, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. They couldn't do a thing about the quotes that greet you when you log on. Quoting is legal and does not violate Prince's copyright.

Luv & Peace,
Alex
Clubbin' in Mpls/A Night w. Prince

Well, sorry to be an "armchair lawyer," (heh) but yes they SEEM to be stating that discussing bootlegs in an open forum promotes the trading/selling of bootlegs, but they can have that opinion all they like - it doesn't change the fact that it's not illegal to discuss them, PERIOD. The cases they cite DO NOT in any way back up their claim - look them up if you don't believe me.

There is no precedent for telling people they are not able to discuss bootlegs or anything else either related to Prince or not related to Prince. Period. That's black and white.

The cases they cite DO NOT in any way back up their claim - look them up if you don't believe me.

[23] Contributory infringement originates in tort law and stems from the notion that one who directly contributes to another's infringement should be held accountable. See Sony v. Universal City, 464 U.S. at 417; 1 Niel Boorstyn, Boorstyn On Copyright 10.06[2], at 10-21 (1994) ("In other words, the common law doctrine that one who knowingly participates in or furthers a tortious act is jointly and severally liable with the prime tortfeasor, is applicable under copyright law"). Contributory infringement has been described as an outgrowth of enterprise liability, see 3 Nimmer 1204[a][2], at 1275; Demetrigdes v. Kaufmann, 690 F. Supp. 289, 292 (S.D.N.Y. 1988), and imposes liability where one person knowingly contributes to the infringing conduct of another. The classic statement of the doctrine is in Gershwin, 443 F.2d 1159, 1162: "[O]ne who, with knowledge of the infringing activity, induces, causes or materially contributes to the infringing conduct of another, may be held liable as a `contributory' infringer." See also Universal City Studios v. Sony Corp. of America, 659 F.2d 963, 975 (9th Cir. 1981), rev'd on other grounds, 464 U.S. 417 (1984) (adopting Gershwin in this circuit).

Wow, that letter is really borderline insane. Basically, they don't mind you having a Prince fan site as long as you only talk about topics THEY sanction. That's like Big Brother's thought police.

Not talking about bootlegs on a Prince fansite is like going for coffee at someone's house and there's an elephant sitting in the corner of the room, but you're under strict orders not to mention the elephant or look at the elephant BUT ALL YOU CAN THINK IS WHY IS THERE AN ELEPHANT SITTING IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM!!!!

I find princes stance on this totally bizarre. On the one hand, I understand him wanting to control his output, and simultaneously not harm the sales of his offical releases. His artistic integrity would mean that if a song remains unreleased it does so for a reason that is personal to him. I can understand this, while a lot of unreleased tracks are brilliant, some are dire.

However I remember reading an interview with prince in which he said when he was younger he felt like he HAD to own every single note James Brown every laid to record, so from his point of view as a fan of music, he is not showing much empathy to his own fans and their insatiable hunger for prince stuff.

In many ways bootlegs have helped prince immensely. Think of it like the addiction of an over eater. Prince fans consume bootlegs and it only serves to increase their hunger for more stuff. In many ways one could actually question whether princes lesser works would have sold at all, if his hardcore "bootleg" buying fans had not had that collector / completist mentality that is fed by bootlegs. How much would records like NEWS, Crystal Ball, NPS, Exodus, Rainbow Children all have sold if Princes fans not have been hungry for more. The NPGMC was sold on the promise that as fans we'd be given exclusives, that it was going to be a revolution in the way we'd have access to his music, and whilst it is getting better, we've still not seen the ends to justify this claim.

Most importantly even if bootlegs dont help boost sales of his work, it is debatable, they certainly dont harm them. If anyone can name a single prince fan who doesn't buy princes official stuff simply because they buy bootlegs, id be very interested to hear from them.More than this, from what i can tell, the majority of bootlegs are of live recordings. Live recordings can only serve to enhance his reputation as a versatile performer and musician, in a way that his official ones never could.

My message to prince is that if he feels that all music should be free, then make it free. I dont mean give it away, even prince fans understand the simple dynamics of the costs involved in making music, but free the music up, make it available. Give us downloads of your live shows, your aftershows. release your bootlegs, or at the least the ones you're not ashamed of. The reason bootlegs exists is because there's a hole in the market that you aint plugging and like all free markets, people should be perfectly entitled to fill this if the demand is out there. You play your game in a public environment, you cant expect to have complete control. You accept our adulation and applause when we buy your concert tickets, why dont you accept that we are your fans and we dont want to rip you off. We simply want MORE.....

Wow, that letter is really borderline insane. Basically, they don't mind you having a Prince fan site as long as you only talk about topics THEY sanction. That's like Big Brother's thought police.

Not talking about bootlegs on a Prince fansite is like going for coffee at someone's house and there's an elephant sitting in the corner of the room, but you're under strict orders not to mention the elephant or look at the elephant BUT ALL YOU CAN THINK IS WHY IS THERE AN ELEPHANT SITTING IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM!!!!