Prince Threatens Fan Sites

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you is generally good advice. But it seems to be something that the diminutive pop star, Prince, hasn’t taken toheart. He’s hired a company, Web Sheriff, that’s instructed fan sites to remove photos of him in concert, song lyrics, and even images of album covers.   John Giacobbi, managingdirector of Web Sheriff, told the BBC,   "The dispute, in so far as there is one, is related to the use ofphotographs and images of Prince, many of which are Prince’s copyright. At the end of the day it’s the artist’s decision as to what they’re happy to let people have."   It’s prompteda fightback from the fan sites, three of which have banded together to form an organization called Prince Fans United. They claim that the vast majorityof pictures on sites don’t have their copyrights owned by Prince, and that the sites are all put together on a voluntary basis, with no thought for commercial gain.   Prince recentlyundertook a long run of concerts at London’s O2 Arena, and cameras were banned. However, clips from the shows still appeared on YouTube, and Prince threatened action against the site to havethem removed.   Last year Prince won an Internet award “for reshaping the relationship between artist and fan.” This year? Well, he’s unlikely to be a fan favorite.