After pressure from fans, legendary rocker Prince has decided to drop a $22 million lawsuit against bootleggers who posted concert footage online.
Earlier this month, Prince sued 22 fans for $1 million each for copyright infringement when they posted footage online to be downloaded by other fans. The defendants “engaged in massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince's material,” the lawsuit read. It was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Jan. 16.
After the lawsuit went public, fans complained and Prince decided to drop the complaint.
“Because of the recent pressure, the bootleggers have now taken down the illegal downloads and are no longer engaging in piracy,” the “Purple Rain” singer’s lawyer told TMZ today. “We recognize the fans craving for as much material as possible, but we’d prefer they get it from us directly than from third parties who are scalpers rather than real fans of our work.”
Although Prince won’t be performing on Super Bowl Sunday, fans will get to see him show off his acting skills on a special episode of Fox’s New Girl, which will air right after the game. Prince performed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2007.
image: Wikimedia Commons
