NPG changes its name to Minn All Star band.........

Great! Perfect!

ShellyMcG said:

There were so many different iterations of the NPG anyway so you could technically have two or three different bands made up of former members all calling themselves the NPG. So I'm not really too bothered that this particular iteration has changed their name.

They're not just changig their name - they are now restricted in the number of Prince songs they can play.

leecaldon said:

short sighted to say the least, these guys were really good live and allowed for Prince's songs to still be heard and appreciated live

ShellyMcG said:

leecaldon said:

They're not just changig their name - they are now restricted in the number of Prince songs they can play.

Is that legally enforceable though? What about Prince tribute acts who play nothing but Prince covers?

I would think the Estate could block that if they were asking people money to come see them.
Didn't Lonny and Spicer say when Apollonia was going on her dramaqueen rant when they didn't give her the rights to "her"name that she was allowed to use it but that the trademark had to expire so they could trademark Apollonia 6 and use it for qwhatever they need to use it?
Maybe this is the same for the NPG name; teh Estate trademarks it and they can use it to release whatever.

JorisE73 said:

A lot of tribute bands enjoy when their act is endorsed by the people of the bands they honor, but I'm not sure that's a necessity for a tribute band to perform their act. As far as copyrights and trademarks are concerned, they'd need to tweak a band name so it doesn't use the legally reserved names.

>

Otherwise, if a band has the technical capability to play the attributed artists' songs, all they gotta' do is let it rip! As far as Prince's former-NPG-personnel's new bands are concerned, they're the real deal, so playing isn't a problem; I'd guess they'll need to avoid recording anything that would violate the Prince estate's copyrights, however. I'm all for them moving forward with new identities in a band name. It'll aid their career development!

ShellyMcG said:

JorisE73 said:

I would think the Estate could block that if they were asking people money to come see them.
Didn't Lonny and Spicer say when Apollonia was going on her dramaqueen rant when they didn't give her the rights to "her"name that she was allowed to use it but that the trademark had to expire so they could trademark Apollonia 6 and use it for qwhatever they need to use it?
Maybe this is the same for the NPG name; teh Estate trademarks it and they can use it to release whatever.

Yeah I'm ok with the name change. I think it's ridiculous but they pulled that same shit with The Time and Apollonia so it's kind of expected that they'd do it to the NPG as well. And as I said, there's like 3 or 4 completely separate bands that could rightfully claim that name anyway due to how many different lineups there were throughout the years. So the name change is fine. Whatever. But could the estate really prevent the Minneapolis All Stars or whatever they're going to be called from playing Prince music in their shows? If so, does that not set a precedent for all the Elvis impersonators and stuff? Nearly every famous band has a tribute act so if the Prince Estate can force the band formerly known as the NPG to stop playing Prince songs does that not mean that the entire business of tribute bands is at risk?

ShellyMcG said:

JorisE73 said:

I would think the Estate could block that if they were asking people money to come see them.
Didn't Lonny and Spicer say when Apollonia was going on her dramaqueen rant when they didn't give her the rights to "her"name that she was allowed to use it but that the trademark had to expire so they could trademark Apollonia 6 and use it for qwhatever they need to use it?
Maybe this is the same for the NPG name; teh Estate trademarks it and they can use it to release whatever.

Yeah I'm ok with the name change. I think it's ridiculous but they pulled that same shit with The Time and Apollonia so it's kind of expected that they'd do it to the NPG as well. And as I said, there's like 3 or 4 completely separate bands that could rightfully claim that name anyway due to how many different lineups there were throughout the years. So the name change is fine. Whatever. But could the estate really prevent the Minneapolis All Stars or whatever they're going to be called from playing Prince music in their shows? If so, does that not set a precedent for all the Elvis impersonators and stuff? Nearly every famous band has a tribute act so if the Prince Estate can force the band formerly known as the NPG to stop playing Prince songs does that not mean that the entire business of tribute bands is at risk?

I don't think it's ridiculous for the Estate to want to trademark things that 'belonged' to Prince.
And if they only block it for them, so they can trademark it to use it in the future

for album remasters or whatever they want to use it for and so Morris Day or Apollonia can't cause useless and unnessessary drama like they do then I'm all for it. The Estate already said they were allowed to use but they nbeeded the trademark to expire so they can use them. Regading tribute acts I don't know, I would think people can't ask money for performing other peoples work, but that happens all teh time soi I don't know.

[Edited 2/10/26 8:38am]

JorisE73 said:

ShellyMcG said:

JorisE73 said:

I don't think it's ridiculous for the Estate to want to trademark things that 'belonged' to Prince.
And if they only block it for them, so they can trademark it to use it in the future

for album remasters or whatever they want to use it for and so Morris Day or Apollonia can't cause useless and unnessessary drama like they do then I'm all for it. The Estate already said they were allowed to use but they nbeeded the trademark to expire so they can use them. Regading tribute acts I don't know, I would think people can't ask money for performing other peoples work, but that happens all teh time soi I don't know.

[Edited 2/10/26 8:38am]

I think it's ridiculous in a sense that it just comes across as really petty. I understand that the Estate want to control the IP rights so they can monatize it in future for remasters etc but I'm sure some kind of agreement could be made that would allow them full ownership of the name but still allow Apollonia or The Time to continue to use their names without splitting their own profits they make from live shows with the Estate. As for the NPG, I think it's a slightly different situation. There were so many members over the years and so many different configurations that you'd have a hard time determining who they even are. You can't really have 3 different bands touring at the same time all going under the same name. Well, you can but it could be confusing. So it's better for them if they change it. They should still be allowed to play any songs they want though.

But that's it tho, MOrris and Apollonia were allowed to keep using the name, they just were blocked from trademarking it now that Prince is dead, and MOrris tried to do that sneakily and Appolonia was told she could keep using the name but the trademark had to expire so they could register it again to release material under that name (Apollonia 6). Just normal business practice, I think it was shady of Morris to try and trademark Morris Day and the Time to release remasters without the Estates approval.

JorisE73 said:

ShellyMcG said:

JorisE73 said: I think it's ridiculous in a sense that it just comes across as really petty. I understand that the Estate want to control the IP rights so they can monatize it in future for remasters etc but I'm sure some kind of agreement could be made that would allow them full ownership of the name but still allow Apollonia or The Time to continue to use their names without splitting their own profits they make from live shows with the Estate. As for the NPG, I think it's a slightly different situation. There were so many members over the years and so many different configurations that you'd have a hard time determining who they even are. You can't really have 3 different bands touring at the same time all going under the same name. Well, you can but it could be confusing. So it's better for them if they change it. They should still be allowed to play any songs they want though.

But that's it tho, MOrris and Apollonia were allowed to keep using the name, they just were blocked from trademarking it now that Prince is dead, and MOrris tried to do that sneakily and Appolonia was told she could keep using the name but the trademark had to expire so they could register it again to release material under that name (Apollonia 6). Just normal business practice, I think it was shady of Morris to try and trademark Morris Day and the Time to release remasters without the Estates approval.

.
Morris doesn't have the rights to the Time albums.

Kares said:

JorisE73 said:

But that's it tho, MOrris and Apollonia were allowed to keep using the name, they just were blocked from trademarking it now that Prince is dead, and MOrris tried to do that sneakily and Appolonia was told she could keep using the name but the trademark had to expire so they could register it again to release material under that name (Apollonia 6). Just normal business practice, I think it was shady of Morris to try and trademark Morris Day and the Time to release remasters without the Estates approval.

.
Morris doesn't have the rights to the Time albums.

I know, but I think he didn't understand that. He tried to trademark 'The Time' and 'Morris Day and the Time' right after Prince died with the idea of releasing remasters and he advised others to do the same until teh Estate pat him on the fingers and mnade a deal with him.

JorisE73 said:

Kares said:

.
Morris doesn't have the rights to the Time albums.

I know, but I think he didn't understand that. He tried to trademark 'The Time' and 'Morris Day and the Time' right after Prince died with the idea of releasing remasters and he advised others to do the same until teh Estate pat him on the fingers and mnade a deal with him.

.
I agree it was a shady move from him but I thought he was trying to tm the name so he can use it for marketing live gigs and perhaps release new material.

Kares said:

JorisE73 said:

I know, but I think he didn't understand that. He tried to trademark 'The Time' and 'Morris Day and the Time' right after Prince died with the idea of releasing remasters and he advised others to do the same until teh Estate pat him on the fingers and mnade a deal with him.

.
I agree it was a shady move from him but I thought he was trying to tm the name so he can use it for marketing live gigs and perhaps release new material.

He was alrewady shopping for remasters (teh first album was remastered and released without the Estates consent) and the Esate already told him that he was allowed to use the name but the Estate needed to register the TM for future releases with The Time name attached to it without having to go by him first or something, the same for Apollonia, she made it seem they were blocking her use of the name but they didn't want her to TM it so they could reissue or do future Apollonia 6 releases.
Lonny also retorted that nobody was blockinbg anyone from using the names, just not TM'ing it because that would give them say in any future release from the Estate with Prince's work on it that they merey did a small contribution to.

[Edited 2/10/26 11:17am]

JorisE73 said:

Kares said:

.
I agree it was a shady move from him but I thought he was trying to tm the name so he can use it for marketing live gigs and perhaps release new material.

He was alrewady shopping for remasters (teh first album was remastered and released without the Estates consent) and the Esate already told him that he was allowed to use the name but the Estate needed to register the TM for future releases with The Time name attached to it without having to go by him first or something, the same for Apollonia, she made it seem they were blocking her use of the name but they didn't want her to TM it so they could reissue or do future Apollonia 6 releases.
Lonny also retorted that nobody was blockinbg anyone from using the names, just not TM'ing it because that would give them say in any future release from the Estate with Prince's work on it that they merey did a small contribution to.

[Edited 2/10/26 11:17am]

.

Thanks. I didn't know about him shopping for remaster deals, but I knew Warner (or Rhino?) was already working on rereleasing the remastered, first Time album without even notifying Morris, when he started crying about it online, so Warners got in touch with him. But that experience alone should've indicated for him that his consent isn't really needed at all, as neither him or the Estate has the rights to the first 3 Time albums (I'm not sure about the 4th). So I don't get what he was trying to shop around, he knew that stuff isn't his.

Kares said:

JorisE73 said:

He was alrewady shopping for remasters (teh first album was remastered and released without the Estates consent) and the Esate already told him that he was allowed to use the name but the Estate needed to register the TM for future releases with The Time name attached to it without having to go by him first or something, the same for Apollonia, she made it seem they were blocking her use of the name but they didn't want her to TM it so they could reissue or do future Apollonia 6 releases.
Lonny also retorted that nobody was blockinbg anyone from using the names, just not TM'ing it because that would give them say in any future release from the Estate with Prince's work on it that they merey did a small contribution to.

[Edited 2/10/26 11:17am]

.

Thanks. I didn't know about him shopping for remaster deals, but I knew Warner (or Rhino?) was already working on rereleasing the remastered, first Time album without even notifying Morris, when he started crying about it online, so Warners got in touch with him. But that experience alone should've indicated for him that his consent isn't really needed at all, as neither him or the Estate has the rights to the first 3 Time albums (I'm not sure about the 4th). So I don't get what he was trying to shop around, he knew that stuff isn't his.

He was clear enough that he wanted to get paid and his idea of owning the name would give him a bigger cut and he even claimed Prince would support that stance.

JorisE73 said:

Kares said:

.

Thanks. I didn't know about him shopping for remaster deals, but I knew Warner (or Rhino?) was already working on rereleasing the remastered, first Time album without even notifying Morris, when he started crying about it online, so Warners got in touch with him. But that experience alone should've indicated for him that his consent isn't really needed at all, as neither him or the Estate has the rights to the first 3 Time albums (I'm not sure about the 4th). So I don't get what he was trying to shop around, he knew that stuff isn't his.

He was clear enough that he wanted to get paid and his idea of owning the name would give him a bigger cut and he even claimed Prince would support that stance.

.

Oh dear...

JorisE73 said: