"PRINCE Act" Canned By Minnesota Legislature
Late last month, the Minnesota legislature introduced the PRINCE Act; a protective measure that sought to clarify and empower an artist's control over their image and likeness, extending those rights to their heirs in an attempt to prevent their name's exploitation via bootleg merchandising. Now, as Billboard reports, the bill, originally introduced by Representative Joe Hoppe (whose district includes Prince's Paisley Park studio and residence,) has apparently been shelved after being rushed to legislature in the wake of Prince's death on April 21st.
Hoppe claims that the bill may have had some unintended consequences, prompting its disposal, though he does intend to reintroduce the bill once he's had the opportunity to work out some of the kinks. Meanwhile, the internet has been flooded with unofficial Prince memorabilia, bootleg recordings and videos; all of which would have been scraped from the web with haste had the icon still been alive (or if his estate had a will to direct its course of action.) Not that we're complaining about having this wealth of new-ish material to take in, but here's hoping that the PRINCE Act is reintroduced before things get even more out of hand.
