The artist currently known again as Prince is suing eBay for allowing the sale of unauthorised merchandise and YouTube for failing to filter out unauthorised film content. The singer has instructed Web Sherriff, a company who specialise in tracking down copyright infringement on the internet, to act on his behalf: the company say that they have already had 300 eBay auctions ended, plus 2000 clips removed from YouTube.
A spokesman for Prince said that “very few artists have ever taken this kind of action over their rights. Yet, Prince has showed time and time again he is ready to challenge the system in new ways to put artists and music first.”
Prince may be the first to take such comprehensive action, but he surely won’t be the last. There are a number of eBay sellers who have built entire businesses on the back of using unauthorised images of celebrities: these sellers need to be aware that they may be the next target.
4 Responses
Shurely shome mishtake? Surely the quote should read:
“Pint-sized multi-millionaire Prince has had a hissy fit and reckons he needs even more dollars.”
“Hmmm…. who has more money than me and is therefore susceptible to my law suits? Ah, yes, eBay and Google. Kerrr-chinngggg!!!” 😀
If the actions of the Diminutive purple Howard Hughes results in less piracy on ebay, then I say, “Good luck to you, Tiny Billionaire!, lead the way.”
Or , er, “Gud Luk 2 U 10 E Bi££ion-air!, Rave Un2 the Joy Fntstic!”
and all that gibberish…
Wonder if this could be the first nail in the coffin for youtube? for it surely must be eating away at DVD sales by now.
As its more user friendly than the torrent wares out there its obviously more blatant.
Think of a tv series – chances are its on UT – e.g. Blackadder you’ll find them all there allbeit episodes broken into 3 or 4 clips, but why would you want to pay for something which is that free and easily available.
Surely oly a matter of time before the BBC or such slap an almighty writ on UT to remove all copyright offending material?
As an aside there are also whisperings that the infamous youporn is already hurting the revenue of adult pay sites (which indirectly the web has a lot to be grateful to for) – same scenario why would someone pay for whats there easily available and free?