Prince has filed a lawsuit against 22 of his fans for posting links of his recordings and videos of concert performances on Facebook and blogs. Each fan is being sued for $1 million, totaling to $22 million. The 21-page lawsuit states that the defendants have participated in “massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince’s material.”
Only two individuals are specifically named, while the other 20 are only referred to by their online usernames. The two people named, Dan Chodera and Karina Jindrova, ran a Facebook group that provided other Prince fans with links to download Prince concert bootlegs. Prince claims that this Facebook group, along with the website WorldOfBootleg.blogspot.com, contain over 360 copyright infringing music links to bootlegged concert performances.
Prince has become notorious for attacking people for copyright infringement of his work. In 2007, he threatened to sue his fans for posting any photographs, lyrics, album covers, or anything with his likeness. In 2008, the singer sued a Norwegian band for doing a Prince tribute album.
The “Purple Rain” singer will soon be seen on television as he will be guest-starring in an episode of New Girl, set to air on FOX after the Super Bowl.
