Prince Rogers Nelson, the singer/songwriter/funky one formerly known as a weird symbol and forever known as a man who knows how to wear purple, is undeniably talented. But unfortunately for people who shared links to Prince’s live concerts on Facebook and Google’s Blogger platform, Prince is also extremely litigious and hates link-sharing.
Prince is suing 22 individuals for sharing links to his concerts, and he expects each alleged perpetrator to pay $1 million in damages. Most of these link-sharers aren’t yet identified, so they’re listed by nickname on the lawsuit.
“Defendants constitute an interconnected network of bootleg distribution, which is able to broadly disseminate unauthorized copies of Prince’s musical compositions and live performances,” the suit reads, classifying these individuals as malicious bootleggers. But looking at the 21-page lawsuit, while some of the anonymous defendants have online nicknames that suggest, perhaps, a small-scale operation (“World of Bootleg”) many of these defendants have nicknames that suggest they’re just Prince super-fans, like “Purple House” and “Funky Experience Four.”
Prince is known for his dedication to suing people and platforms for copyright infringement; in the past, in addition to suing places like The Pirate Bay and YouTube, Prince has attacked fan sites for supposedly dampening his earning potential. The Purple One has also banned photography at all his live concerts.
Prince’s previous attempts to sue the Internet were unsuccessful, and it’s doubtful that this case will get far.
You can read the full lawsuit here:
Prince v. Chodera by Mark H. Jaffe
