Prince now sues for peace with fan sites
Prince is close to making up with three fan sites that spent the past week trading nasty publicity releases with the purple music king.
Prince Fans United (PFU), a group formed by three fan sites dedicated to Prince; Housequake.com, Prince.org, and Princefams.com, was trying to hammer out an agreement with the artist's representatives on Wednesday, according to Gavin McLaughlin, a spokesman for the group.
PFU was formed after Prince allegedly demanded that the sites remove all "photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince's likeness," the site operators claimed.
"We're in the process of agreeing to terms with Prince and hope to have a statement out by (Thursday) morning," McLaughlin said in an e-mail.
Last week, the fan sites said that Prince's demands were unlawful and maintained they had the right to post images of him under the law. Much of the media slammed Prince for appearing to sue his fans, but his representatives denied that this was his intent.
In what was apparently a peace offering, Prince gave permission to the fan sites to post a new song of his called "PFUnk." The song is available on PrinceFansUnited.com.
The cease-and-desist letters sent to the fan sites are believed to be part of a a two-month old campaign Prince launched to protect his copyright on the Web.
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET.
