When news of Prince's new CD "3121" first hit the street, some of you, like myself, eventually also heard news of coming videos associated with the CD (ie Black Sweat etc.)- and - news of a possible motion picture associated with the CD - and - news of a possible "3121" magazine..

As time passed, not very many videos were actually released and the prospects of a motion picture were dismissed as rumor...and who has seen the magazine?

Well ladies and gentlemen, they weren't so much rumors as they were unfulfilled intentions.

Apparently, at some point Prince had very much intended to produce magazines, books, and another motion picture, or motion pictures. Which might explain why he had decided to work intimately with Universal...one of the biggest movers of motion pictures on the planet.

On March 22, 2005 Paisley Park Enterprises filed a trademark claim for the use of the name " 3121 "
Serial Number 78592734
Published for Opposition January 10, 2006 [to allow any objections]
Registration Number 3146834
Registration Date September 19, 2006

The name 3121 was intended to be associated with the following goods and services:

G & S: sound recordings, namely phonograph records, pre-recorded audio tapes, pre-recorded CD's, and digital audio files featuring vocal and musical performances; video recordings, namely pre-recorded video cassettes, pre-recorded DVD's and digital video files featuring vocal and musical performances. FIRST USE: 2005

G & S: jewelry.FIRST USE: 2006

G & S: Books featuring music; magazines featuring music; posters, calendars, printed concert programs and stickers. FIRST USE: 2006

G & S: clothing for men, women, and children, namely, T-shirts, shirts, jackets, footwear, socks, hoisery, headbands, wristbands, jerseys, shorts, hats/caps, and scarves. FIRST USE: 2006

G & S: online retail store services featuring clothing, jewelry, wearable accessories, posters, concert programs, books, music recordings, video recordings, and related merchandise; promoting the sale of goods and services of others through the distribution of information online and promotional contests. FIRST USE: 2006 [ironically, perfume is not mentioned]

G & S: providing online information in the field of music; entertainment services, namely, live musical and vocal performances by an individual and musical group; recording studio services; providing music rehearsal studios for musicians; entertainment services in the nature of music production and engineering; entertainment services in the nature of motion picture film production and engineering; entertainment services in the nature of production and engineering of video discs and digital files for others. FIRST USE: 2006

--end of record

When filing an application for a trademark, you cannot claim to use a particular mark for services or goods that you cant or wont provide...in other words, Prince could not have claimed "3121" for use as an auto mechanic unless he fully intended to fix cars at some point in the very near future.

In the trademark world it's known as "intent to use"...and in fact,(by your sworn statement to the trademark office) if you dont use the name for what you claim you will be using it for, the trademark office can void the trademark altogether. So if Prince claimed he was gonna make magazines and movies, he must have intended to make magazine and movies...

no rumors in the mill, just whiskey in the still



The previous information is a PUBLIC RECORD filed with the USPTO
Brought to you by Schminglite, tastes great with a third less calories than the regular Schming™

schming said:

awesome! That really tripped me out.

Oh well, can't miss what you never had. I don't

...well i don't think prince will let go of 3121 as of yet??...and

..mzsexybaby"$"
[Edited 2/23/09 19:13pm]

Hi schming...I recognize U from npgmusicclub. Thanx 4 the info.

ASCAP, one of several organizations responsible for the collection of royalties for musicians, happens to be in charge of collecting dough for Prince's vast repertoire. If you search their database for songs by "Prince", you will end up with a nice alphabetically organized list of about 656 titles.

However, as many of you know, he has actually written more than 656 tunes, but some are registered under a seperate name such as "Prince Rogers Nelson" or "Formerly known as..." etc etc so all his works don't show up on the same list.

But just for the sake of this conversation, I'm going to focus on the inital 656..

Among those on the list are all the familiar titles you might expect to see, such as #90 Bob George and #94 Brand New Orleans.... and then there are some that you've probably never heard like #115 Coca Cola Jingle ...wouldn't you just love to hear how cheesy that one is

so anyway...not surprisingly you can also find the titles of the songs from the "3121" CD on that list too:

#24 - 3121
#76 - Beautiful Loved and Blessed (w/Tamar)
#85 - Black Sweat
#209 - Fury
#216 - Get on the Boat
#303 - Incense & Candles
#354 - Lolita
#500 - Satisfied
#574 - Te Amo
#580 - The Dance
#586 - The Word


But do you notice which one is missing?


The song "Love" is missing from the ASCAP database hmmmmm


I thought that this was a bit curious, the fact that his whole CD was listed except for that one song. And it has not been credited to Tamar either.

So I contacted ASCAP directly to see if there had been a mistake on my part - or if somehow I had just overlooked it....and this is what they had to say:




Is it a case of sloppy record keeping?
Someone drop the ball?
Does the song have a different title?
Did someone else actually write it?

Whatever the answer, it appears that no one is concerned with actually getting paid for it.

Go figure.
[Edited 2/23/09 23:32pm]

You done your research

sometimes, an artist will purposely not register a particular song with an agency (like ASCAP or BMI) if it is to be used as a demo, promo or giveaway, in order to keep from violating their own contract to have money collected for it...

but in this case, "Love" wasn't distributed as a promo or demo and has in fact been "sold" already, thus its a bit unusual that Prince wouldn't be collecting royalties for it..

schming said:

I have it. It's "Uh-Huh - You Got the Right One Baby" that Ray Charles (I think) sang.

schming said:

The only thing he did with the tune was put up an acoustic version. Cinne Cee previously brought out a drum snare that Prince took from a Meters tune he used for Love I believe. Not that this is unusual. Since there have been some producers that sampled Prince snares with no credit (Puff Daddy, Timbaland, The Dream..). Good find!

herb4 said:

That's "Pepsi."

Dayclear said:

Me either. It would have been nice it would have happened but sometimes things happen that makes all of our plans change. That's a part of life for everyone, including Prince.

Tame said:

oops

Type of Work: Music
Registration Number / Date: PA0001331130 / 2006-05-16
Title: Love.
Appears in: 3121
Copyright Claimant: Controversy Music
Date of Creation: 2006
Date of Publication: 2006-03-21
Authorship on Application: words & music: Prince R. Nelson (p.k.a. Prince)
Copyright Note: Cataloged from appl. only.

Names: Nelson, Prince R.
Controversy Music
Prince



source: U.S. copyright office

schming said:

ooops...
nevermind
[Edited 2/25/09 11:28am]

My goodness schming! Aren't you inquisitive today? Having fun?