Prince – who was formerly known as “the artist formerly known as Prince”, due to his adoption of a symbol in place of his name for a period of time – has engaged the aid of online rights audit and enforcement firm Web Sheriff.
On behalf of Prince, WebSheriff, which is touted in some circles as “Europe’s leading Internet policing specialist”, has already tapped both YouTube and eBay on the shoulder and advised them to take down material which infringes on Prince’s copyrights, or risk being sued, citing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The rub is that Web Sheriff is demanding not only that YouTube and eBay take down infringing material, but that they proactively create a system to automatically detect infringing material as soon as it is entered into their system.
Said Web Sheriff principle John Giacobbi, “There will be separate suits against both YouTube and eBay, unless they want to smell the coffee first and start protecting his rights.”
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
OMG! I feel so sorry for him! It is so hard to be famous and rich! Here I am, disabled, barely making it, and I couldn’t even afford to hire somebody to watch for copyright infringement! I am so lucky!
Oh my! Hand wringing!
He should grow up and stop worrying about people stealing from him. He should be happy he has something worthy of stealing.
Prince’s Purple Rain tour ended with the IRS confiscating cash receipts because his deadbeat agent/manager, Richard Klotzman, hadn’t paid his taxes. Klotzman and the recording company owned the rights to the name “Prince” for a specified period. Rather than enrich them further, he continued working under the name “The Artist” until the contract ran out and he then took his own name back. It’s a sad story, not a funny one and now he’s experiencing this copyright infringement. Not a bit funny, for such a talented professional to have to endure all of that.