|
Just how far should artists go to defend their music? The Record Industry Association of America, or RIAA, seems to believe it should mean the prosecution of average Americans, with fines reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, one artist is taking matters into his own hands, attacking fan sites using his name without permission. The artist in question is none other than Prince, and recently he's been rocking his own fans like its 1999. Sites dedicated to the 80s legend have now been served notice that they must remove images of Prince, his song lyrics, and "anything linked to Prince's likeness."
As you might expect, Prince's loyal fans are shocked. One page is now arguing, "We strongly believe that such actions are in violation of ... freedom of speech and should not be allowed." Fighting back is Prince and his representatives, who believe that the targeted fan sites are blowing the whole matter out of proportion. John Giacobbi, managing editor for Internet defenders Web Sheriff, has stated, ""At no time is Prince suing his fans and this is not about freedom of speech." Three sites in particular have come under scrutiny by Prince and his people. These include www.housequake.com, www.princefams.com and www.prince.org. Giacobbi believes these sites have simply gone too far in their use of protected material, finding they are inappropriately using "Prince trademarks and photographs, many of which are Prince's copyright." (Source: pcworld.com) So, what are the Prince sites doing about this? For now, they've got little choice but to block out images of Prince. The three sites have largely replaced their images with a hand print with "pfu", or Prince Fans United. The matter has surprised many in the music industry. Prince has become known as one who challenges the music industry and traditional marketing techniques -- not those who have made him a legend and household name. Regardless, these fan sites may have simply been caught in the crossfire as Prince lays siege to The Pirate Bay and other legitimate copyright threats. (Source: nme.com)
-- Related newsletter articles:
2007/08/28 Wal-Mart Wows With $0.94 Music Downloads (music)
2007/10/10 RIAA Begins Courtroom Crusade (music)
2007/10/23 Is a Copyright Tax on Music Downloads Imminent? (music)
2007/10/23 iPod Touch Not So Handy (music)
2007/10/19 Star Wars Blasting TV Screen Soon (fans)
2007/09/25 Starbucks, iTunes Team Up for Free Songs, WiFi (music)
2007/09/20 SpiralFrog Offers Free Music Downloads (music)
2007/09/18 Prince Punishes Piracy, Copyright Infringers (prince)
2007/07/23 Microsoft DRM Hacked, Again (music)
2007/10/22 One Step Forward, Two Back for RIAA? (music)
2007/11/07 New Report Counters RIAA Attacks (industry)
2007/10/19 Napster's New Plans To Attract Old Customers (industry)
2007/08/07 Music Piracy Still Swashbuckling (music)
2007/10/17 DRM-free for Under a Buck on iTunes (music)
2007/09/27 Amazon MP3 Swoops in on iTunes (music)
2007/10/04 Samsung Challenges Apple, iPhone to Duel (music)
2007/09/12 Google Earth: Can it Find You? (images)
2007/09/06 Dead Ends on the Information Superhighway (images)
-- Recent articles (from all channels): 2008/05/12 Today in History: for Monday, May 12, 2008
2008/05/12 [ShellX 20080512]: 'Remote Manager', and 'Cyber Bandwidth ...
2008/05/12 Video Gaming Trade Group Struggling
2008/05/12 T-Mobile Finally Joins 3G Phone Race
2008/05/12 Apple Slammed by Environment Watchdog
2008/05/09 [ShellX 20080509]: 'Advanced Run', and 'Diver Windows Manager'
2008/05/09 Texas Refuses Facebook Friend Request
2008/05/09 Photo-Enforcement Technology Replaces Officers On Patrol
2008/05/09 Cuban Government Says 'Ok Computer'
2008/05/09 Excel Can E-Mail Your Weekly Reports For You!
2008/05/08 [ShellX 20080508]: 'Shell Enhancer', and 'Lansweeper'
2008/05/08 Xobni: MS Outlook Social Networking Technology for your Inbox
2008/05/08 Music Companies Jump on GTA IV Bandwagon
2008/05/08 Fascinating: Memristor to replace Binary
2008/05/08 Adobe Hopes To Make Flash Master Of The (Mobile) Universe
2008/05/08 Spiffy Envelopes and Labels in MS Word
2008/05/07 [ShellX 20080507]: 'Winbin2iso', and 'Loop Typer'
2008/05/07 Yahoo Adds Security Warnings To Search Results
2008/05/07 Apple to Lose Money on iTunes Movie Releases
2008/05/07 Amazon.com takes New York Tax to Court
2008/05/07 Need Glasses for the Slide Sorter View in MS PowerPoint?
2008/05/07 After Winning The DVD Format War, Blu-Ray Sales Tank
2008/05/06 [ShellX 20080506]: 'Visual Basic 6.0 Portable', and 'Double-...
2008/05/06 Yahoo Outsources to Jajah
2008/05/06 New HP Circuit Could Change Technology Forever
2008/05/06 Movie Downloads To Match DVD Release Dates
2008/05/06 Microsoft Ends Yahoo Bid
2008/05/05 [ShellX 20080505]: 'Ie7 Pro', and 'Desktop Ok'
2008/05/05 The WB Network Hops Online
2008/05/05 Microsoft Slashes Price of Xbox 360 Overseas
2008/05/05 Google CEO Wants YouTube to Take More of Your Money
|
