(EXCLUSIVE) Prince Lawsuit Accusing Him of Stealing Music, Dismissed Days Before His Death
theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports, singer Prince scored a victory in the legal battle filed by a musician accusing him of stealing music and passing it off as his own …only days before his death, with a federal court judge dismissing the lawsuit last week. Last year, an artist named James Brandon filed a federal lawsuit against the singer, director Spike Lee and Warner Bros Records.
Brandon said that Spike Lee directed a film entitled “Girl 6” back in 1996, which features a song on the soundtrack by the same name which was produced and sung by Prince.
He said that back in the early 90’s he was the manager of a group entitled “GOMAB” which created the song “Phone Sex” which wasn’t copyrighted until 2013.
The man explained that while promoting the band’s song in 1993, he met with Clarence Lee – Spike Lee’s uncle – who took interest in the song and was so impressed he called Spike on the phone in front of Brandon.
He claimed that Spike then requested the music be forwarded to the soundtrack coordinator for his film “Girl 6” which had yet to be released.
Following the meeting, Brandon said he never heard back from Spike or his uncle and then when the film was released he realized Prince’s song in the film had substantial and significant similarities to his band’s song “Phone Sex”.
The musician/manager filed suit accusing Spike & Prince of copyright infringement claiming they used his groups work without permission and mislead the public into thinking it was independently created.
Brandon demanded an injunction against the singer from continuing to release the song along with 150k for every infringement that the singer committed.
The case had been pending for several months with Brandon attempting to find Prince to serve him with the legal papers, but he failed numerous times and the singer’s legal team said the one service the plaintiff claimed was successful in California was nonsense since Prince wasn’t even in the state at the time in question.
Prince had not been served with the lawsuit or respond to the allegations in court prior to his passing.
Then on April 18th, the federal court judge came back and dismissed all claims against Warner Bros Music and Spike Lee by granting their motions to dismiss. Both parties claimed they did not infringe on any copyright and wanted the lawsuit tossed, which the judge did.
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