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Prince alleges copyright violation by Internet site The 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. | |
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Prince,  All you others say Hell Yea!!  | |
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$100 a day? I don't think so. | |
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"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.
Whats the difference?? He provided access to illegal downloads. He continued providing access after he was informed it was illegal. | |
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july said: The Associated Press
Published Sep 27, 2002[...] "I've been unemployed since September 11th. What the fuck does that have to do with anything? | |
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ZaZa said: "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.
Whats the difference?? He provided access to illegal downloads. He continued providing access after he was informed it was illegal. Er, no. There is a HUGE difference between HOSTING illegally pirated copyright materials and just linking to it. It isn't illegal to provide a hyperlink, so if that is all this guy has done, he has nothing to worry about. | |
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ian said: ZaZa said: "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.
Whats the difference?? He provided access to illegal downloads. He continued providing access after he was informed it was illegal. Er, no. There is a HUGE difference between HOSTING illegally pirated copyright materials and just linking to it. It isn't illegal to provide a hyperlink, so if that is all this guy has done, he has nothing to worry about. --- Well if that is true than he should calm down. It is possible that the lawsuit is just a scare tactic but I cannot feel sorry for this guy he really comes off as being arrogant. I mean he could have just taken the links down when he was asked the first time. | |
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laurarichardson said: ian said: ZaZa said: "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.
Whats the difference?? He provided access to illegal downloads. He continued providing access after he was informed it was illegal. Er, no. There is a HUGE difference between HOSTING illegally pirated copyright materials and just linking to it. It isn't illegal to provide a hyperlink, so if that is all this guy has done, he has nothing to worry about. --- Well if that is true than he should calm down. It is possible that the lawsuit is just a scare tactic but I cannot feel sorry for this guy he really comes off as being arrogant. I mean he could have just taken the links down when he was asked the first time. Yeah I agree but it's not a crime to be an asshole (not yet anyway, but it's only a matter of time). Why should he have taken the links down though? It's his site. I wouldn't have taken them down - Prince has no right to ask him to do that. Yeah this guy needs to calm down because obviously the scare tactics have worked. Prince has no intentions of seeing this case through. | |
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ian said: laurarichardson said: ian said: ZaZa said: "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.
Whats the difference?? He provided access to illegal downloads. He continued providing access after he was informed it was illegal. Er, no. There is a HUGE difference between HOSTING illegally pirated copyright materials and just linking to it. It isn't illegal to provide a hyperlink, so if that is all this guy has done, he has nothing to worry about. --- Well if that is true than he should calm down. It is possible that the lawsuit is just a scare tactic but I cannot feel sorry for this guy he really comes off as being arrogant. I mean he could have just taken the links down when he was asked the first time. Yeah I agree but it's not a crime to be an asshole (not yet anyway, but it's only a matter of time). Why should he have taken the links down though? It's his site. I wouldn't have taken them down - Prince has no right to ask him to do that. Yeah this guy needs to calm down because obviously the scare tactics have worked. Prince has no intentions of seeing this case through. --- Well he should have taken it down because he has no job and cannot afford to fight Prince in court. I do not think that Prince and some links are worth going into bankrupcy over. I really do think the lawsuit are a scare tactic. I do not recall anyone being taken to court when he filed suits against all those other sites years ago. In addition, Prince has a history of filing suits and not taking the case to court. After all he is going after people who do not have vast amounts of money. You cannot get blood out of a stone. | |
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laurarichardson said: ian said: laurarichardson said: ian said: ZaZa said: "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.
Whats the difference?? He provided access to illegal downloads. He continued providing access after he was informed it was illegal. Er, no. There is a HUGE difference between HOSTING illegally pirated copyright materials and just linking to it. It isn't illegal to provide a hyperlink, so if that is all this guy has done, he has nothing to worry about. --- Well if that is true than he should calm down. It is possible that the lawsuit is just a scare tactic but I cannot feel sorry for this guy he really comes off as being arrogant. I mean he could have just taken the links down when he was asked the first time. Yeah I agree but it's not a crime to be an asshole (not yet anyway, but it's only a matter of time). Why should he have taken the links down though? It's his site. I wouldn't have taken them down - Prince has no right to ask him to do that. Yeah this guy needs to calm down because obviously the scare tactics have worked. Prince has no intentions of seeing this case through. --- Well he should have taken it down because he has no job and cannot afford to fight Prince in court. I do not think that Prince and some links are worth going into bankrupcy over. I really do think the lawsuit are a scare tactic. I do not recall anyone being taken to court when he filed suits against all those other sites years ago. In addition, Prince has a history of filing suits and not taking the case to court. After all he is going after people who do not have vast amounts of money. You cannot get blood out of a stone. That's the problem... there are too many celebs and corporates throwing their weight around on the net and bullying people into getting what they want. If all this guy was doing was providing some links, he was right not to give in. The more ICANN related cases (domain name resolution disputes) I see brought about by a major corporate and then thrown out of court the happier I am 
Prince's people have been cyber-bullying fansites for years now. People need to be more aware of the law and not be intimidated. | |
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july said: $100 a day for the events at Prince's Paisley Park complex
Sounds like someone is trying to spin this real wild-like... This post not for the wimp contingent. All whiny wusses avert your eyes. | |
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all these people calling matthew an arrogant asshole.  he really isn't.
and even if he was, look who this site's dedicated to. sheesh. | |
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Damn. Damn,damn,damn. This is really getting 2 B 2 messy now.
 Damn, Prince.
Still  U 4 ever though. &  | |
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well heck it's prince's music for crying out loud! i mean, i'm sorry for the unemployed guy but what the hell was he spending his time documenting, describing, transcribing and offering up for public consumption unauthorized reproductions of someone else's work!? can you say misdirected energy? better have spent time submitting resumes, mister lankford.
and it might be true that the lawsuit is a scare tactic, but can you imagine how annoying it would be to have created your own compilation for release and have someone else's unofficial version out to compete with your own? and how annoying to HAVE to file suit in the first place? that costs. people don't usually go so far as to file suit without trying other means, first. i think if i were prince i'd be pretty pissed too | |
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Ya think?  This post not for the wimp contingent. All whiny wusses avert your eyes. | |
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This should be submitted as news you know.
... Okay, he orgnoted me, he did. My error. Oh and to add to this thread, CYBERBULLYING. Not what the internet was intended for. It's NATURE, it's motor, is programmed for this to not be succesful. Like for example all those dummy files on a Peer To Peer network so you download fake files, there WILL be a program, technology developed, underground by Cyberpunks to weed out and sniff those out. The law is like oil in sea on the internet. It can float in it...but essentially, and "naturally" it does not fuse, or mix with the water. It Is What It Is. [This message was edited Sat Sep 28 2:25:39 PDT 2002 by FlyingCloudPassenger] | |
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To the .org asskissers   : Matt is a FAN. He comes on here, too. I saw the links. This is Prince via Londell & Co. making a big deal out of NOTHING. A couple of tracks is NOT competition. They weren't for sale. They weren't for promotion of a bootleg CD. They were for OTHER FANS TO DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO. Some of you hypocritical mudda fukkas even downloaded the songs, but won't fess up to it. Get a freaking CLUE.  Fans/fam SHARE. Bootleggers SELL. If you're going to deal directly with your fans/fam as Prince is trying to do, you have to learn not to adopt the practices of the big faceless corporations, lest you will be treated as such. Prince, even though e is legendary, is still more like a mom n'pop store at this point. The way I see it, Prince can't really afford to alienate fans. This situation should have been handled with more tact. | |
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BlaqueKnight said: [color=blue:18530f969f]If you're going to deal directly with your fans/fam as Prince is trying to do, you have to learn not to adopt the practices of the big faceless corporations, lest you will be treated as such.
Actually he seems to be acting more like Prince than a corporation. When did he do this type of thing while at Warner Brothers? Or did Warner Brothers ever do it for him while he was there? | |
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Wolf said: BlaqueKnight said: [If you're going to deal directly with your fans/fam as Prince is trying to do, you have to learn not to adopt the practices of the big faceless corporations, lest you will be treated as such.
Actually he seems to be acting more like Prince than a corporation. When did he do this type of thing while at Warner Brothers? Or did Warner Brothers ever do it for him while he was there? YEAH! Warner Brothers did go after sellers of unauthorized recording via RIAA to small independent stores and swapmeets. In the late eighties and early nineties BEFORE the "popular internet" they used to bust local shops here in Los Angeles' Hollywood area. They were busted, fined and that was it. That's how they used to do it. The Black Album wasn't posted on any eeenernet, it was sold from under the counter. You just asked for any "rare stuff on Prince" and they looked around scanned you upa and down and said "Ah, yeah...yeah we've got some stuff." Proceeded to look under the counter and pull out a stack of Bootleg albums. And you as a fan were peeing in your pants in excitement. ~*~ BlaqueKnight said: [color=blue:65e9ee2e5c:112c5e954f:9a9aed4c43] To the .org asskissers
: Matt is a FAN. He comes on here, too. I saw the links. This is Prince via Londell & Co. making a big deal out of NOTHING. A couple of tracks is NOT competition. They weren't for sale. They weren't for promotion of a bootleg CD. They were for OTHER FANS TO DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO. Some of you hypocritical mudda fukkas even downloaded the songs, but won't fess up to it. Get a freaking CLUE. Fans/fam SHARE. Bootleggers SELL. If you're going to deal directly with your fans/fam as Prince is trying to do, you have to learn not to adopt the practices of the big faceless corporations, lest you will be treated as such. Prince, even though e is legendary, is still more like a mom n'pop store at this point. The way I see it, Prince can't really afford to alienate fans. This situation should have been handled with more tact. You said what I was thinking abot as I was prancing around in my room thinking about this problem. Right on. I don't think Prince consults a Public Relations professional. In fact, I don't think he really figures on what kind of repercussions / backlash could of this. I don't think he sat down, where ever, a conference room, the cooler, the pool room, studio, basketball court, with different people and asked what the benefits of this were, what kind of repercussions would incur if he sued a fan. It seems very much like an unthoughtful, knee jerk response. Is this the kind of news he wants attached to his upcoming ambitious release? The media will just attach this negative episode with the Live ONA release and really just add a downer to the table full of good stuff. It was anticipated, this Live album project, now it may be marred by Prince going after a fan. And you know, as a member of NPGMC, a fan, when Prince sues one of us...it isn't a good feeling. It's that bad feeling I got when he sued fan sites. That was bad. It just brings back the anger. I haven't bought New Power Soul because it reminds me of those days. And really now, this is just not a good move by Paisley Park on before a new album arrives. I'd really like to see the sales for his WB catalog after a week from now to see how this affects that end. /// [This message was edited Sat Sep 28 3:40:05 PDT 2002 by FlyingCloudPassenger] | |
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Hey Matt Im sure that you have heard it enough but I will say it again just for shit and giggles: YOU RULE DUDE!!! Anyone who wants to take a stand against the big purple machine is OK by me. My personal take on this "lawsuit issue" is that Prince is looking for press time so that he can promote his upcoming ONA CD set. What better way to get your name circulated again than by filing a lawsuit??? Unlike in the past; Prince`s name doesn`t hold the same clout that it use too. The press wouldn`t take note of anything that he does anymore. Therefore the best way to get your name in the papers again is to drop the word "lawsuit". The bottom line is that Prince is trying to create "buzz" for himself to help promote his upcoming ONA CD set. Publicity Publicity Publicity is the name of the game. Am I the only person who thinks that the timing on this "lawsuit" is a bit odd??? Sueing a fan of your music is pretty low. But then again I would expect that from the law offices of Prince, Londell & Graham. Sorry to break your heart Natasha/Vagina but your a brainwashed fam anyways.
 Prince 
Londell 
Larry Graham 
Natasha  My DC Direct wishlist: 1) Bane, 2) Prof Zoom, 3) Superman Blue, 4) Kilowag, 5) Parasite | |
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BlaqueKnight said: [color=blue:18530f969f:df5c278914] To the .org asskissers
: Matt is a FAN. He comes on here, too. I saw the links. This is Prince via Londell & Co. making a big deal out of NOTHING. A couple of tracks is NOT competition. They weren't for sale. They weren't for promotion of a bootleg CD. They were for OTHER FANS TO DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO. Some of you hypocritical mudda fukkas even downloaded the songs, but won't fess up to it. Get a freaking CLUE. Fans/fam SHARE. Bootleggers SELL. If you're going to deal directly with your fans/fam as Prince is trying to do, you have to learn not to adopt the practices of the big faceless corporations, lest you will be treated as such. Prince, even though e is legendary, is still more like a mom n'pop store at this point. The way I see it, Prince can't really afford to alienate fans. This situation should have been handled with more tact. AMEN | |
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In Febuary, many fans will have their say when they click "NO" on the site with regards to joining year 3.
Being a PRICK is going to cost Prince more sales than the couple of downloads on freemyheart. At least these tracks showed Princes talent far more than the pile of shit he's dumped on us through NPGMC. He could have at least let it slide till it became a significant problem. There are many artists who encourage taping and trading of their shows. Until these bootlegs start cutting into their sales, theyre nothing more than a promotional tool that strengthens their fan base. Will someone PLEASE drop a house on Londell McMillian... [This message was edited Sat Sep 28 4:04:10 PDT 2002 by Tom] | |
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2the9s said: july said: The Associated Press
Published Sep 27, 2002[...] "I've been unemployed since September 11th. What the fuck does that have to do with anything? the point is that prince will probably not be able 2 recover any type of damages from this guy even if he does pursue this one 2 court... i agree, this is all about scare tactics, which is costing prince lawyers fees. unfortunately, each of these cases will produce an 'identikit' claim, so the more suits issued, the cheaper the process each time. which means u can assume there r more 2 come. as i recall, on the door tickets at xenophobia were $100... | |
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Maybe someone with some balls could ask him about this at the soundcheck...?
I still think it's a shame that I go to freemyheart for music and i go to NPGMC for month old news and biased social commentary. Now we know why it's so hard to get info from NPGMC. Apparently, their entire staff is surfing the net 24/7 looking for "criminals" instead of servicing their customers. Matt's vision at freemyheart is closer in design, content and execution to what Prince has always promised us with HIS website. | |
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Supernova said: july said: $100 a day for the events at Prince's Paisley Park complex
Sounds like someone is trying to spin this real wild-like... Well, that IS what he was charging non-members a day. | |
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AaronForever said: all these people calling matthew an arrogant asshole.
he really isn't.
and even if he was, look who this site's dedicated to. sheesh. Thank you! If you wanna talk arrogant asshole, we can come up with a million worse things Prince has done in his day. Including this! |
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XxAxX said: well heck it's prince's music for crying out loud! i mean, i'm sorry for the unemployed guy but what the hell was he spending his time documenting, describing, transcribing and offering up for public consumption unauthorized reproductions of someone else's work!? can you say misdirected energy? better have spent time submitting resumes, mister lankford.
and it might be true that the lawsuit is a scare tactic, but can you imagine how annoying it would be to have created your own compilation for release and have someone else's unofficial version out to compete with your own? and how annoying to HAVE to file suit in the first place? that costs. people don't usually go so far as to file suit without trying other means, first. i think if i were prince i'd be pretty pissed too --- This is what I have been saying. If any of these people who are defending Matt had planned to release a live recording and some dude put it out on the internet first they would be pissed at Matt. Some of you need to realize that if Prince does nothing this stuff will never stop. The only thing that is wrong here is the fact that he is not going after the bootlegg record labels. | |
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The guy's clearly made millions out of his website!!
Errr... Well, he'd be the first person to do it ever! I think even Amazon only became profitable this year, if they even have... If I put a link on my homepage to, say, Ebay, would that be wrong, cos you know 'they' occasionally sell Prince CD's on there without him making any money on them...?! If I typed 'Prince Bootlegs' into a search engine, and got some results, would the search engine be culpable? I suppose it's fair to say putting up links to bootleggers is encouraging the bootlegging network, but if there was no network then the guy couldn't link to any sites, so it makes far more sense to go after the sites hosting the bootleggers, but I reckon it would be like trying to spear fish. You might get 1 or 2 but there's still plenty of fish in the sea. I think they've picked an easy target to make a statement of intent more than anything. Paisley will probably figure this out and phone him later, "Errr... Can you put up those links again, only we're trying to sue those sites but we've lost their addresses..." | |
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...i still don't understand why anyone thought this would turn out any other way...
so much has been said and done by prince and his people concerning this type of thing... ...i am not saying it's right...or wrong...but i'm just saying all the parties involved should have seen this coming...and the only way to avoid it would have been to stop... another thing, people have donated money to keep that particular site running...funds have been solicited...maybe not hardcore, but solicited just the same..that could be perceived as 'purchasing goods or services...' goods being unauthorized copyrighted material... i don't plan to be involved in this debate, cos it's obviously just going to turn into the latest reason to hate on prince, but i'm just stating another side of an issue that most of us know, but none of us are going to admit or recognize because it is the unpopular side... i will say you can't advertise daily on the most popular prince site on the net and not expect prince to get wind of it... | |
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This is the the way i remember it and the way I see it.
Everyone knows it makes the man mad when he sees his live or unrealised music posted... so if ur gonna do it anyways, thats your choice but Y flaunt it??? If u choose to do it AFTER u get a letter saying to take it down...then your asking for a challange. So when you get that challange that u put upon yourself then You shoulda been ready and prepared for what your taking on. Dont call a mans bluff if U aint prepared. Try callin Princes bluff...he will definetly come out n play. I remember seeing something on the org. bout that guy receiving a letter from princes lawyer...and "yadda yadda yadda he cant do this...Im keeping it there...yeadda yadda yadda"... kinda like big bad talk if i recall...and then even flaunting it... u dangled out in Princes face... so now Prince is ready to play. word to the wise... Dont take on challenges your not prepared for... and dont provoke if your not ready and able to see it through.
P luv | |
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