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Prince is not the biggest fan when it comes to the Internet posting his songs and videos without his permission. The soul icon has now slapped 22 bloggers and Facebook users with a $22 million lawsuit for bootlegging his live concerts.
According to Consequence of Sounds, the Purple One filed a 21-page lawsuit, on Jan. 16 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, against 22 Internet users, most of whom are anonymous, for $1 million each.
Prince is accusing the collective of “massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince’s material.”
While most of the 22 online users are unknown, the claim does specifically mentions Dan Chodera and Karina Jindrova, who used to operate a Facebook fansite. The suit’s other defendants — referred to as “Does 1-20″ — are hit with similar offenses, including sharing a 1983 Chicago concert via WorldofBootleg.blogspot.com.
Prince’s attorneys are seeking a jury trial but it seems unlikely that will happened. They are also demanding any profits from the material, plus interest and legal fees. Furthermore, the defendants would be banned from engaging in any further alleged violations of Prince rights.
So let this be a warning to anyone who wants to post Prince’s music online without his permission — he don’t play that.
