The miniature Minneapolis mogul of pop music himself has unleashed his lawyers on YouTube. Prince, the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, is threatening to sue the user-generated video site for trafficking his clips. If YouTube can filter out porn, it can filter out His Purpleness, he is reported to reason. The San Francisco Chronicle says that 1,000 Prince clips have been pulled since said Artist weighed in.
Prince would join Viacom in the ranks of plaintiffs lining up to siphon off some of the $200 million escrow fund Google has laid aside for YouTube lawsuits. Reports indicate that the rights owner of music by the Village People are also mobilizing lawyers over a mashup of "YMCA" with video of Adolph Hitler goose-stepping. Meanwhile, Japan and the Beeb have merely scolded the garage-to-riches video purveyor.
YouTube continues to maintain it's self-policing policy is enough to combat piracy while it continues to get hammered for copyright violations. In the July hearing that opened the Viacom challenge in federal court, YouTube attorneys said the site would implement digital fingerprinting by September, which is noticeably now. Given that the pirated stuff is also the most popular, it behooves YouTube to bat its collective eyelashes as long as possible before actually combating piracy. The courtroom shoot-out with Viacom isn't expected until 2009.
For More:
- Cringley's InfoWorld gets props for best headline--Prince v. YouTube: A Violet Video Vendetta, here
- Second runner-up is at TechNewsWorld--This Is What It Sounds Like When Prince Sues? here
- Cnet's News Blog has details on the Village People, who are now all collecting Social Security, here