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# Prince Has A Lawsuit On His Hands After Giving Away Someone Else’s Artistic Efforts
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/prince-has-a-lawsuit-on-his-hands-after-giving-away-someone-elses-artistic-efforts/
- Published: 2015-04-06T14:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-04-06T14:00:00.000Z
- Description: If there's one thing Prince has made clear over the years, it's this: don't mess with Prince's intellectual property. Now, he's teaching us to do as he says, not as he. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/04/prince-has-a-lawsuit-on-his-hands-after-giving-away-someone-elses-artisti
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Music Business, " copyright infringement, Bruno Mars, copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Epic Records, Fordham University School of Law, Intellectual property, Led Zeppelin, List of British artists, Marvin Gaye, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:28

[![Url](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c7732cd9970b-150wi "Url")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c7732cd9970b-popup?ref=hypebot.com)If there's one thing **Prince** has made clear over the years, it's this: **don't mess with Prince's intellectual property.** Now, he's teaching us to **do as he says, not as he does.** 

*Guest Post by *Tim Cushing* on [TechDirt.com](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150330/10544530487/prince-gives-away-someone-elses-artistic-efforts-gets-sued.shtml?ref=hypebot.com)*

**This holds true even if:**

1. it's only [links to bootleg](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140126/22483926006/prince-sues-22-fans-1-million-each-linking-to-bootlegs-laughably-confused-complaint.shtml?ref=hypebot.com) concert recordings.
2. it's only a [6-second Vine](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130403/13353622562/heres-vine-video-prince-abused-dmca-to-takedown.shtml?ref=hypebot.com) captured at a Prince concert
3. it's Prince's cover of [someone else's song](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080530/1507241271.shtml?ref=hypebot.com) he's now claiming to "own"
4. it's only your toddler dancing to a Prince song for all of [29 recorded seconds](https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=stephanie+lenz&ref=hypebot.com)
5. it's just [a cover version](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110420/13280113977/prince-claims-when-someone-covers-your-song-original-no-longer-exists.shtml?ref=hypebot.com) of a Prince song, which as Prince so wisely noted, completely destroys the original and removes it from everyone's consciousness/internet FOREVER
6. it's a [puppet likeness](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121119/18143921097/littlest-thug-prince-sends-cease-desist-to-fan-who-created-le-petit-prince-miniature-doll.shtml?ref=hypebot.com) of him
7. it's [any photo](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071107/092153.shtml?ref=hypebot.com) of him or his album covers

Don't mess with the Prince of IP unless you're an intellectual property lawyer or have several on retainer. This is what Prince has taught us. **Now, he's teaching us to do as he says, not as he does.**

[![Best-prince-songs-2](http://a2.typepad.com/6a016766638dee970b01bb08171252970d-150wi "Best-prince-songs-2")](http://a2.typepad.com/6a016766638dee970b01bb08171252970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Prince handed out someone else's music for free, which would normally be considered [copyright infringement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright%5Finfringement?ref=hypebot.com). But the lawsuit against him, brought by the manager of the artist whose music was given away, doesn't make that assertion. Instead, [it alleges intentional interference with a pre-existing contract](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/legal-battle-voice-singer-jumps-784935?ref=hypebot.com) – namely the one signed by the plaintiff (talent scout Jolene Cherry) and Prince's partner in free album giveaways, Judith Hill.

> *According to [the complaint](https://www.hypebot.com/content/files/s3-amazonaws-com/s3-documentcloud-org/documents/1698000/260151771-cherry.pdf) filed in L.A. Superior Court on Friday, Hill signed an exclusive recording agreement with a joint venture between Sony and The Cherry Party after appearing on The Voice in 2013\. Cherry, a talent scout who takes credit for discovering [Lady Gaga](http://www.break.com/topics/lady-gaga?ref=hypebot.com), says her relationship with Sony was later restructured and that The Cherry Party became a successor-in-interest to rights under the recording agreement.*

Hill signed a contract with Cherry, then asked if she could make an album with Prince. Cherry rejected the request and followed up with a warning to Hill that working with Prince would violate their contract — a warning Hill ignored. Prince and Hill collaborated on an album and proceeded to give it all away.

Included in this *gratis* album are songs allegedly written by Hill's co-writers and previously recorded for The Cherry Group. **The lawsuit claims Prince's actions have basically made Hill's Cherry Group/[Sony Records](http://sonymusic.com/?ref=hypebot.com) debut album all but unreleasable**. Despite Hill's willing participation in both the recording and the free giveaway, she is *not* named as a co-defendant.

In very closely related news, [Hill is currently suing Cherry](http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/03/26/singer-fires-back-on-kim-jong-un-love-song.htm?ref=hypebot.com) for allegedly botching a contract with Sony Records, as well as for harming the singer's reputation by altering a previously-recorded track to make it sound like a love song to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. (That last half of the previous sentence is most assuredly *not* made up.)

Underneath everything else, there's the simple fact that **Prince's IP-protectionism is apparently applied on a case-by-case basis.** If it's even tangentially related to him, it's off limits. If it's someone else's (Hill's co-writers, Cherry Party), it can be given away freely. If nothing else, this situation will hopefully result in "purple with hypocrisy" joining "green with envy" in the annals of American idioms.

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