Prince filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against a Seattle Webmaster on Thursday, claiming that his site had posted downloads to unauthorized songs. The Webmaster denies this claim.

"All I did was link directly to songs ," Matthew Lankford said. "And I've been unemployed for the last year. I live in a studio apartment in downtown Seattle. They're basically suing me for my Top Ramen money."

Thirty-three-year-old Lankford, who runs the Me'shell Ndegeocello fan site FreeMyHeart.com, said that he linked to upwards of 50 recordings from another Web site which were taken from Prince's Xenophobia live concert performances this past June. Since Prince is seeking damages of $150,000 per song, that could total up to $7.5 million.

However, Prince's lawyer said that it wasn't just links that irked the Purple One. "Lankford had both sound files and links to other sites," Jerry Blackwell said. "And some of those links were to other sites that he directed and controlled."

Lankford, who disputes having any control over the other Web sites, said that he first got word that Prince's camp was upset with his activities when he received a notice in mid-August via Prince's NPG Music Club, which notified him that he had violated the singer's copyright and demanded the removal of unauthorized music.

Lankford then sent a letter in response which convinced Prince's lawyers that it would take a court action to stop him, since he wrote, "Until my Internet Service Provider says 'No,' or until I receive a judge's decision that says 'No,' I will continue doing what Prince promised in 1995 by freeing the music in a non-profit format."

The Webmaster argued that he wasn't bootlegging, but file-sharing, noting that the entire week of Xenophobia concerts were already being sold as bootlegs elsewhere on the Internet. Lankford then wrote, "My putting up a track or two a day of unreleased material for the 500 people that visit FreeMyHeart.com per day isn't going to harm Prince financially in any way whatsoever. In fact, I put up a link for folks to support Prince by purchasing his most recent album."

Prince's camp next notified Lankford's ISP provider Affinity, who took down his Web site for a month under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Lankford removed the links and had his access restored in mid-September, only to find that the matter, as far as Prince was concerned, was still unresolved.

"Yes, the files are gone," Prince lawyer Blackwell said. "But since he said he would link to every bootleg site he could find, it could happen again. He intends to keep on doing this. We could shut down his site today, and another would pop up tomorrow."

Consequently, Prince's Paisley Park Enterprises filed the suit in U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleging that there was an "ongoing infringement." Even though any files or links are nowhere to be found on Lankford's site at present, Prince's lawsuit alleges that he "continues to willfully infringe Plantiff's copyright and has indicated that he will continue to infringe Plantiff's copyrights once his Web site is back online."

Lankford, who has discussed the matter with Prince's lawyers, says that he's confused why they're going after him and not the original Web site which posted the music files to begin with. His defense ? that he didn't post the files, and that he took the links down ? seems to have made no impact, he said. Prince's lawsuit claims that by directing his users to the other Web site, he gave access to copyrighted music and allowed others to make copies and transmissions, thereby violating the Copyright Act.

"There are hundreds of bootleggers out there," Blackwell said. "We can't find them all. But we do try to get the ones we do find to act responsibly. is spending his entire day providing unauthorized music to people. He could certainly get authorized music and do the same thing. There's a fan club for that.

"Why he doesn't get a regular job, I do not know," he continued. "He thinks he's a modern day Robin Hood. But I don't think anybody who has a legitimate job and works for a paycheck would willingly be robbed of that check, and that's what's happening to artists. And we'll take whatever measures we have to get them to stop."

—Jennifer Vineyard
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1457884/20021001/prince.jhtml?headlines=true

is becoming ridiculous!
good luck m!

much love,
Kyle

if you got beef: http://www.okayplayer.com/guidelines.html


"but why oh why do you feel you need to take over the world when you already rule? " ~ calamity june

and thats that.

and now for these:
"sitting
shotgun
with eternity
in a
stolen car
she's
rockin' rings around eyes and fingers
my sighs linger
with personal ghosts
blank faces hold host
to things i tried to
make myself forget"
- hunuh


Theme Song Of The Moment: Talib Kweli - "Waiting For The DJ"

♀¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤♀

he didnt lose a dime because of M, good luck M

and whats that robin hood shit gotta do with anything?

hold ya head m....they're jus threatenin w/the suit, they know damn well you ain't got no 7mil....jus a scare tactic to get you to comply w/them.

Prince does come off as a hypocrite on this one tho....

name an individual that is not a hypocrite and I will show you a liar.
this dont look like no scare tactic


>
>hold ya head m....they're jus threatenin w/the suit, they
>know damn well you ain't got no 7mil....jus a scare tactic
>to get you to comply w/them.
>
>Prince does come off as a hypocrite on this one tho....

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

altho prince has every right to do this....its still retarded on his part. i dont really see what prince plans on gaining by doing this.

FUCK PRINCE!

You get a cheap lawyer. Good luck man;) We ought to boycott the purple arrogant one.

Keep ya head up, they just tryna frighten you. Don't be scurred...


J

Only positive thing I can see coming from this is that someone may want to offer M a job due to his new found notoriety. I think he needs to milk this for all he can. Do Oprah or something.

this is publicity...it's now a really big story...if it was me, i'd probably be on dateline, nightline, oprah, geraldo, connie chung, good morning america, and every other goddamn show on the planet.



::::::::::::::::

::::::::::::::::

go ladies! go ladies! go ladies! go ladies!
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://smack-magazine.com/girlswithguitars.html

Since the man supposedly has no money, he can reap the benefits by really blowing this issue up.

Maybe real.com can hook him up with a job up here. BTW, it is becoming difficult for heads to find a job up here in Seattle.

He better shout out OKP.com if he chops it up with Katie Couric! :)

Good luck.

"I got into hip hop when I first
ordered Wu-Tang forever from
my Dad's Columbia House music
catalog" (c) JRennolds

I wouldn't have brought the Rainbow Children if it wasn't for M cause the last couple of Prince albums have been crap. I don't get why this fool is coming after such a fan like M. Wouldn't it be a kick if Me'shell would help in his defense?

Modern day Robin Hood??? LOL. More like a modern day Pied Piper.

>I wouldn't have brought the Rainbow Children if it wasn't
>for M cause the last couple of Prince albums have been crap.
> I don't get why this fool is coming after such a fan like
>M. Wouldn't it be a kick if Me'shell would help in his
>defense?
>
i know, it's ironic right? to think m was one of the cats that helped convince me to take a chance and purchase rainbow children

dude looks like Moby's older brother.

Prince is a dickhead, I'm downloading all his shit from now on.

For real, I would have SWORN this was a joke, until i saw the link. this is some cowpiss man. m had a very legit point, why not go after the person actually offering the mp3s?

I really don't know what to say on that but good luck. That's fucked up fareal.

Why doesn't M get a real job...classic and lawyers wonder why folks don't like them...

I'm not an american. I'm a New Yorker...

I really feel for him...He seems real sincere about everything he does...I hope he keeps his head up....
........prayers are with ya bruh!.....................

he doesn't respect the people that have put food on his table for the last 25 years... shown him the support he needed to get that studio built in Chanhassen, the support needed to continue playing to sold out crowds across the globe.

i mean, yeah, m was slightly in the wrong for posting the mp3s, especially since he should have known that prince isn't scared to threaten legal action against his "fams," but still, there are much better ways to go about this than going after someone who continues to put up with his bad business practices, music of declining quality, and <3 (f)or $.

good luck, m. you've been doing the prince online community a great service for at least 7 years and have kept us all informed of his actions, releases, tours, and have even defended him in newspapers even when he didn't really deserve it (yeah man, i still remember that letter you wrote in regards to that Emancipation review).

keep your head up man.

and uhh... lemme know the minute that NYC Me'shell date is confirmed (not the GMHC one, the other one)

----
perpetual.motion
coming fall/winter 2002

normalcy
coming spring/summer 2003

Im emailing Princes lawyer.

And telling him that his files are all on the mp3 servers. They need to wake up

to even have that email addy!

FREE M!

... L. Londell Macmillan?

Brutha M, you oughta look into attorneys that would work this gratuitously, earning payment-in-kind solely from the publicity angle (indubitably many of them would *love* to speak for you on MTV News et al).

Who acted in defense of the mulitiple anti-Napster suits?

Dont let Prince get your top ramen money dog!!!!

friggin awful.

he's taking a page outta the Scientology book of "bully litigation".

M when I caught the soundbite on the tele. Fuck Prince's stuck in 1989 ass anyway. Like Steven King says, fan love is the purest adoration you'll ever receive, Prince barring listners from sharing his art is selfish, silly, arrogant and melodramatic. He's just mad Mayte's with Tommy Lee now. Get that man some new pussy

I dont know how many Mp3's were on M's site but it was alot of Prince mp3s

Regardless of how bitchy it is to be doing this, its still legally in his court.

The thing is everybody gets hissy over control of someones "work" when it is on the net.

The best way to go thru this is talk to the people close to Prince rather than try to settle it thru Prince and his lawyers.

John Blackwell would be sympathetic to Matt's case.


Thats how Id handle this talk to Rhonda,Blackwell,Femi,Leeds,Meshell

and so forth.


Make it clear to them there is no money being transacted.


M just trust me on this. The best way is to talk your case to people close in Prince's circle. If that includes Mani? Then so be it. But you cant fight it thru just you and prince.

Because if you do Brah? You are sunk in legal bills.

oh well.

Howard:So let me get this straight. Prince is suing you for links to some of his songs?

Artie:BUT you aint got any money

Robin:he has no MONEY??



M:Thats right.

Howard:Wait why dont you have a porno site? You aint gonna make any money off a music site.

Artie:Forget the mp3s go with the pornos man! How about some corey feldman downloads?

Stern:That guy wants to get everybody. Because his albums arent hot and he feels his fans are to blame. Maybe if he would stop making gay crap then he would get noticed.

Artie:Stop makin the GAY crap! Come on Prince!

Robin:Oh Dear

M:And thats not all. He is suing me for my soup money

STern:Wait soup money? Oh cmon.

M:I know. My soup money.

Stern:Well you need some hot naked chicks on your site havin sex with each other .


Artie:GET the naked chicks!! No more of this Michelle Nadu Wadu or whatever her name is

Stern:Wait hold on we have someone on the line

Caller:Hey you tell that Prince fag he did it to himself

Stern:prince fag? What do you mean?

Caller:I mean he is a fag a "prince fag" He thinks he can do anything to Prince

Artie:This is your wisdom. This is it. Whats your name

Caller:My name is White Mansion. You can call me that. All Prince fans are a buncha fags.

M:Raddie go back to the board to troll

Stern:You know this guy?

M:He needs to take his lithium

Caller:SHUT up fag! Shut up. YOU know why you are a Prince fag? Because your the faggiest of the fags. You dont know how to steal MP3's from Prince. I do fag.

Stern:So you take from prince?

Caller:Thats right. I got all his music

Artie:But wouldnt that make you a "Prince fag" BECAUSE you are listening to all his music as well.

Caller:Well. (PAUSE)...SHUT UP STERN FAG. Go back to Mad TV


Stern:Thats it Im hangin up on you. You are a straight up idiot.


Caller:YOU ALL are such FAGS!! Wait til I get off work from ARBYS you FAGS!! Im white styles you fags!


M:You see? This is the craziness you have to deal in the Prince universe

Artie:Im glad Im a fan of Pearl JAM. jESUS!

Bizarro subject
+
Classic responses
=
Deserving of preservation

funny shit...I could actually picture that happeneing.

questions/aRchivals/questionable archives:inbox
_______________________________

¤"don't i look like a halle berry pos-tah???"¤

hearing all their voices in my head is i read it lol

let's also sue Alpine for offering a headunit for cars that plays the mp3s.

then after that, sue the speaker companies that "allowed" the mp3s to be played.

then after that.....

jblackwell@blackwell-law.com

Dear Mr Blackwell,

You are currently in litigation with my friend Matthew. Is it wise to go after somebody who merely is giving links to live files to a celebration that has already happened? The MONEY has already been made and the celebration is over. That logic is completely flawed.

It is currently strange to me why Prince is going after M. The fact is M has promoted Prince and his albums on his site and given links to purchase it. He did not get paid for that. He did that just out of respect for his work. Is that the mind of a "bootleg pirate"?

Wouldn't it be better time to invest in low profile bootleg labels rather than someone with a "hi lited" link to a music mp3 download? Wouldn't it be better time invested in going after the unauthorized Prince bootleg labels, Thunderball and Sabotage? We can only imagine how much money has been made with no catches from these labels over the years.

I'm not a man of the law but if you really want to be technical about it, going after Matthew is a scapegoat. Its an excuse to hide from the fact you are completely vulnerable from Bootleg Pirating of sales of illegal recordings. After all the money Prince has made he should understand that Mp3s like this are the least of his worries. He should be concerned with that "new assistant" he may have pissed off. Or a soundman he had a loud disagreement with. These are how things get leaked.

I wish the best for Prince. But lets get this straight: Matthew has no money and he is more of a supporter of Prince than yourself. Because he isnt some "Yes man" on a legal payroll. This case is going to go nowhere and all you will do is try to bankrupt Matt with legal fees. But I suggest you think otherwise. Because if you do try to bankrupt Matt, when he has nothing to show for linkin Prince Mp3s,Prince may see a full on music download of all his recorded works everywhere in sight. This case reeks of internet exploitation of one lone scapegoat instead of charging more malicious internet users who have sold Prince music directly on their site on CDR copies.

If the fans wanted to they could file a lawsuit against the poor business practice currently going underway in NPGMC site. Better Business Bureau would have a field day with all the violations that the NPGMC is currently involved in.

I dont expect to hear back from you, Mr Blackwell.
But Im sure you realize all the valid points I am making. What M did was wrong but what Prince did with undelivered NPGMC orders is even more damaging in consumer relations.


Have a positive purple day,

sincerely,

D.R. H

lol at all the sheep M has
Prince aint promised shit M
I hope they sue you for defamation also
you dummy


>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

so intelligent.

can you define "defamation?"

or "defamation of character?"

u uptight niggas and wiggas dont allow typos
last I checked it was Prince's music to decide what he wants to do with it


>so intelligent.
>
>can you define "defamation?"
>
>or "defamation of character?"

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

pat you on the back. your record is skipping again.

nobody said M was right.
Prince and his organization are being tight asses. they are attacking M because he posted links to sites that *hosted* unreleased material.
I'll make this as simple as possible for you.
Why don't they bring down the sites that *host* the unreleased material.
They also fail to see where M constantly posts links to where you can legitimately by work from the artists that he posts.

if not for M (along with AFKAP and Fire) I would not have bought Rainbow Children and Joi's Starkitty's Revenge.
I don't like either of those selections but I bought them because I heard selections that were linked to M's site.
M has a right to promote Prince's work free of charge.

Ps.
Defamation
: the act of defaming another
Defame
1 archaic : DISGRACE
2 : to harm the reputation of by libel or slander

M dont work for Prince
It's general knowledge that Prince and his crew are tight asses
Did M really post LINKS that hosted unreleased material?
M dont work for Prince, it's that damn simple
Prince has every right to go after King Prince Fags
he was warned
besides if Prince is so damn washed up, why even bother putting up such horrible music on a meshell site in the first place?



>pat you on the back. your record is skipping again.
>
>nobody said M was right.
>Prince and his organization are being tight asses. they are
>attacking M because he posted links to sites that *hosted*
>unreleased material.
>I'll make this as simple as possible for you.
>Why don't they bring down the sites that *host* the
>unreleased material.
>They also fail to see where M constantly posts links to
>where you can legitimately by work from the artists that he
>posts.
>
>if not for M (along with AFKAP and Fire) I would not have
>bought Rainbow Children and Joi's Starkitty's Revenge.
>I don't like either of those selections but I bought them
>because I heard selections that were linked to M's site.
>M has a right to promote Prince's work free of charge.
>
>Ps.
>Defamation
>: the act of defaming another
>Defame
>1 archaic : DISGRACE
>2 : to harm the reputation of by libel or slander

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

Dear Mr Blackwell,

I think you guys are doing a great job in pursing people that break the laws. I think you could speed things up faster, if you guys started to offer awards or bountys for turing in people like that dummy your suing. I hope you guys come down hard on him and also you should think about a libel case against him also for some of his recent quotes in the newspaper. Finally, when you are finish with that dummy, you should give him a job. This dummy always seems to think he works for Prince, so I suggest that he be punished by becoming the official Pasily Park Bitch.

Thanks



>Dear Mr Blackwell,
>
>You are currently in litigation with my friend Matthew. Is
>it wise to go after somebody who merely is giving links to
>live files to a celebration that has already happened? The
>MONEY has already been made and the celebration is over.
>That logic is completely flawed.
>
>It is currently strange to me why Prince is going after M.
>The fact is M has promoted Prince and his albums on his site
>and given links to purchase it. He did not get paid for
>that. He did that just out of respect for his work. Is that
>the mind of a "bootleg pirate"?
>
>Wouldn't it be better time to invest in low profile bootleg
>labels rather than someone with a "hi lited" link to a music
>mp3 download? Wouldn't it be better time invested in going
>after the unauthorized Prince bootleg labels, Thunderball
>and Sabotage? We can only imagine how much money has been
>made with no catches from these labels over the years.
>
>I'm not a man of the law but if you really want to be
>technical about it, going after Matthew is a scapegoat. Its
>an excuse to hide from the fact you are completely
>vulnerable from Bootleg Pirating of sales of illegal
>recordings. After all the money Prince has made he should
>understand that Mp3s like this are the least of his worries.
>He should be concerned with that "new assistant" he may have
>pissed off. Or a soundman he had a loud disagreement with.
>These are how things get leaked.
>
>I wish the best for Prince. But lets get this straight:
>Matthew has no money and he is more of a supporter of Prince
>than yourself. Because he isnt some "Yes man" on a legal
>payroll. This case is going to go nowhere and all you will
>do is try to bankrupt Matt with legal fees. But I suggest
>you think otherwise. Because if you do try to bankrupt Matt,
>when he has nothing to show for linkin Prince Mp3s,Prince
>may see a full on music download of all his recorded works
>everywhere in sight. This case reeks of internet
>exploitation of one lone scapegoat instead of charging more
>malicious internet users who have sold Prince music directly
>on their site on CDR copies.
>
>If the fans wanted to they could file a lawsuit against the
>poor business practice currently going underway in NPGMC
>site. Better Business Bureau would have a field day with all
>the violations that the NPGMC is currently involved in.
>
>I dont expect to hear back from you, Mr Blackwell.
>But Im sure you realize all the valid points I am making.
>What M did was wrong but what Prince did with undelivered
>NPGMC orders is even more damaging in consumer relations.
>
>
>Have a positive purple day,
>
>sincerely,
>
>D.R. H

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

I'd tell you to eat a dick but you already deep throating Blackwell.

>I'd tell you to eat a dick but you already deep throating
>Blackwell.

take that ebonics shit back to the ghetto

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

grow some nuts and stop holding on to mine.

*slams door and leaves post*

stealing someone's paycheck?

Wrong Prince.


If P wants to say M shouldn't have done that...that's fine. But to say that M has taken money or food from P's table...that's just silly..

P should learn to distinguish when he or is representatives are talking to folks in the music club, or "normal" folks" when they come with that puritanical holier then thou....stealing stuff to the masses...it comes off kind of silly...

This wasn't a smart move for P.....he's going after someone who has the support and sympathy of people who would have bought his new album...

now..

I'll just have someone burn it for me....lol.

any prince bootlegs i can find, that purple goon isn't getting any of my money any time soon (even if i do think he's a genius, most genius' are nutz)...

i might even burn my thrift store prince t-shirt...

"I got into hip hop when I first
ordered Wu-Tang forever from
my Dad's Columbia House music
catalog" (c) JRennolds

Fuck a dot-com they got him on the MTV News segment.
Video interview and all i feel sorry for him....
Prince that's way outtah control man

I hate to say but
Prince and M both are acting like fools
M stop now, I hope you dont have family to embarass


>Fuck a dot-com they got him on the MTV News segment.
>Video interview and all i feel sorry for him....
>Prince that's way outtah control man

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

It all makes so much sense.

Werent you the one yellin out "Flour doggie" and starting race bait threads.

Raddie you have no say in who is foolish dept.

Because you are the chief of the whole dept.

You are what we see when we look up in Websters dictionary "what is foolish"

See Raddie,Warrior,Xenophobia"

Seriously how do you live yourself with spewing as much feces as you do daily?

I am not warrior or never was
They both are assholes, but I could care less because I am not trying to hear any of M's music
I could careless if Prince is an asshole or shuts websites down for using his image or his music
so be it
I cant help but laugh at M's comments in the press, what an asshole and a dummy
He reminds me of Dilbert, give me a break
M you where wrong, end of story.


>It all makes so much sense.
>
>Werent you the one yellin out "Flour doggie" and starting
>race bait threads.
>
>Raddie you have no say in who is foolish dept.
>
>Because you are the chief of the whole dept.
>
>You are what we see when we look up in Websters dictionary
>"what is foolish"
>
>See Raddie,Warrior,Xenophobia"
>
>Seriously how do you live yourself with spewing as much
>feces as you do daily?

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.

Thats the next question.

You arent warrior and you arent white styles.
Even though he happens to post just right after you.
You're not a good liar. You are a straight drone.

I am not warrior or whitestyle
I am WhiteMansion


>Thats the next question.
>
>You arent warrior and you arent white styles.
>Even though he happens to post just right after you.
>You're not a good liar. You are a straight drone.

>6. prince, npgmc, m and
paisley park are assholes,
control
>freaks, and this behavior is
indicative of a failing
>corporation struggling (too
late) to meet the effects of
>supply and demand, and to
recover losses that are not
>deserved.