Field Dispatch
Apollonia vs. Prince Estate | Matt Connarton Unleashed
Speaker 1: Let's see a little bit of music news here. This
Speaker 1: is from from NME dot com. Prince's a State responds
Speaker 1: to Apollonia's quote frivolous lawsuit. Uh this, I remember when
Speaker 1: when this first broke this, uh this news about uh
Speaker 1: Apollonia Kato getting into a bit of a conflict there
Speaker 1: with about Paisley Park, the recording studio that Prince had
Speaker 1: on his estate, and uh, you know, I've been a
Speaker 1: fan of uh so coincidentally, I won't I can't say
Speaker 1: who this individual is or how I know them, but Jenny,
Speaker 1: I think you'll know who I'm talking about. Yesterday I
Speaker 1: spent time with someone who h he was wearing a
Speaker 1: shirt of Prince when Dove's Cry. And I always compliment
Speaker 1: tom on whenever he wears that shirt. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: because when Doves Cry? Uh when when that was a
Speaker 1: big hit, when when we were kids, and I would
Speaker 1: play that song over and over and over, and you know,
Speaker 1: huge huge Prince fan. And I've seen Purple Rain I
Speaker 1: don't know how many times, because you know, it would
Speaker 1: be on HBO all the time and I would just
Speaker 1: watch it over and over and over. By the way,
Speaker 1: poly c from Retrospect Radio with poly c has never
Speaker 1: seen Purple Rain?
Speaker 2: Can you believe that?
Speaker 3: But he never watched I.
Speaker 1: Know he's never seen that. He's never seen this as
Speaker 1: spinal tap, he's missing out. But so this is the
Speaker 1: story from eneme dot com. Princess of State has responded
Speaker 1: to singer songwriter Apollonia's lawsuit, dismissing it as frivolous and unwarranted.
Speaker 1: The US artist, actor, and former model a real name,
Speaker 1: Patricia Apollonia Kataro, starred in Prince's classic nineteen eighty four
Speaker 1: film Purple Rain, portraying his love interest who has the
Speaker 1: name Apollonia. She recently filed the fourteen page complaint against
Speaker 1: the late Icons of State Paisley Park Enterprises in a
Speaker 1: Los Angeles federal court, accusing it of attempting to steal
Speaker 1: her name. Kataro claims in the suit that after appearing
Speaker 1: in Purple Rain, Prince never asked her to stop going
Speaker 1: by the name Apollonia and did not quote contend that
Speaker 1: the name did not belong to her, either personally or
Speaker 1: professionally unquote. She alleges it was on the contrary, and
Speaker 1: that quote Prince himself consented and encouraged Apollonia in her
Speaker 1: professional endeavors unquote under that name. Kato has now used
Speaker 1: the name for over four decades and released numerous projects
Speaker 1: using the alias. Her legal team claims that Prince's Estate
Speaker 1: was out of line when it tried to claim ownership
Speaker 1: of the Apollonia trademark in June. She alleges that the
Speaker 1: estate filed an intent to use application that would allow
Speaker 1: it to use the name in connection with clothing and
Speaker 1: entertainment services. Kato also claims that Paisley Park Enterprises has
Speaker 1: made moves to try and cancel her trademark applications and
Speaker 1: registrations despite her being the rightful owner now the estate.
Speaker 1: By the way, this is a different thing than what
Speaker 1: I the conflict I was referring to earlier, because prior
Speaker 1: to all of this, Apollonia was complaining about something else
Speaker 1: related to this organization and the Paisley Park Recording studio.
Speaker 1: But apparently that's a completely separate thing. So I don't
Speaker 1: know whatever happened with that. I guess nothing, but this
Speaker 1: is this is interesting. So now the Estate has responded
Speaker 1: via a written statement posted on Prince's official social media channels,
Speaker 1: quote regrettably, Miss Patty Kataro aka Apolonia filed a frivolous
Speaker 1: lawsuit as she acknowledges Apollonia is the name Prince gave
Speaker 1: to the character played by Miss Kataro in Prince's movie
Speaker 1: Purple Rain over forty years ago. We never instructed her
Speaker 1: to sease using her adopted professional name, nor did we
Speaker 1: object to her business activities. In fact, we repeatedly offered
Speaker 1: her opportunities to perform at Paisley Park using this professional name.
Speaker 2: Unquote. So because wait, can.
Speaker 3: We mention the fact that he didn't come up with
Speaker 3: it out of thin air? It's her middle name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, her middle name is with the name right right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: And the way they're talking about it really galls me
Speaker 3: because it's like, do you remember when when Prince was
Speaker 3: in a fight with the label and he wrote slave
Speaker 3: across his cheek. Yeah, and he wouldn't use the name
Speaker 3: Prince because of the way they were using his name.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he became an unpronounceable symbol. Yes, And the artist
Speaker 1: formerly known as the same.
Speaker 3: Damn thing being done in reverse to her, Well, it's
Speaker 3: her middle name. He didn't pull it out of thin air. No, Yes,
Speaker 3: he named the character that, but it's her right.
Speaker 1: Well, but the other weird thing is they're they're claiming
Speaker 1: they never told her not to use the name. So
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know what the hang up is here.
Speaker 1: There's more than this article. But I wonder if maybe
Speaker 1: there's a matter of how she uses the name.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but they've gotten in the way of her trying
Speaker 3: to trademarcket herself her own name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, own herself.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's true, right, she wants to be able
Speaker 1: to own the name. It says here. Also, h oh,
Speaker 1: this is also.
Speaker 3: I remember they said that they that the name doesn't
Speaker 3: belong to her personally or professionally. It's her middle name.
Speaker 3: How does that not belong to her personally?
Speaker 1: There are are exceptions though, trademark law and copyright law
Speaker 1: and intellectual property. It's all very fascinating to me, But there's.
Speaker 3: There say it doesn't belong to her.
Speaker 2: But there's there's but there are there are exceptions.
Speaker 1: Just as a random example, because Hall and Oates, for example,
Speaker 1: they recently settled.
Speaker 3: Uh oh did they finally?
Speaker 1: They finally through arbitration, they settled their whole legal dispute.
Speaker 1: But so let's say, for example, your name is Daryl Hall,
Speaker 1: and you have a friend named John Oates and you
Speaker 1: decide you're going to form a musical duo and go
Speaker 1: out and perform, and those are your real names. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You're still gonna get slapped down for that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Okay, but that's different. That's something happening after the fact.
Speaker 3: The creation of Apollonia, the character came in part out of.
Speaker 2: Her right, Well, I'll tell me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he named the character after he cast her, not before.
Speaker 3: He didn't come up with the name Apollonia and then go, oh, look,
Speaker 3: I found a chick who has the Appollodia middle name.
Speaker 3: That's not what happened. I met her, wanted to cast
Speaker 3: her and then name the character her middle name.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know what Prince's long term intentions
Speaker 1: were with that, but I do know it can get complicated.
Speaker 1: Dealing with Prince was complicated because Morris Day of Morris
Speaker 1: Day in the Time. Sure, he's talked about that, how
Speaker 1: difficult that was. Because you know, so you watch you
Speaker 1: you watch the movie, and of course Morris Day on
Speaker 1: the Time as one of the bands in the movie.
Speaker 1: And then but if you do some digging, you find
Speaker 1: out that was really Prince's band. You know, he put
Speaker 1: he put those guys together, Uh, Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis,
Speaker 1: who went on to become very successful producers. Uh they
Speaker 1: produced Janet Jackson and stuff. But they were also a
Speaker 1: part of that band along with Morris Day. That that
Speaker 1: was the time. That was Prince's creation. And then and
Speaker 1: then so Morris Day had problems with you know, so
Speaker 1: later on years after Purple Rain, he's trying to tour
Speaker 1: as Purple Rain. I mean, I'm sorry, as Purple He's
Speaker 1: trying to tour as Morris Day on the time, and
Speaker 1: he's got, he's got he's getting a hard time.
Speaker 3: About it because if she was trying to use Apollonius,
Speaker 3: no I'm not, I'm not which was her, But now
Speaker 3: I'm a c No, I'm just saying.
Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that's com dealing with Prince was complicated.
Speaker 1: That was That was my only point.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 3: It is true. But it is interesting that you bring
Speaker 3: that up because he did create the time, just like
Speaker 3: he did create Apollonia six, which was her with.
Speaker 2: Two other girls.
Speaker 3: Was so weird, right, six but three people, and you know,
Speaker 3: and that was his creation, and that was music. He
Speaker 3: created her and in the name Apollonia, I'm sorry, it's
Speaker 3: her middle name. Let her use her dang name.
Speaker 2: They should, well, they are trying.
Speaker 3: To use Apollonius. No, but they're stopping own her own name.
Speaker 3: And that I find I find is really upsetting to
Speaker 3: me because it completely flies in the face of what
Speaker 3: Prince did in his time to have ownership of himself
Speaker 3: and what he did to teach the music world about
Speaker 3: ownership of health, ownership of artistry. Right, the whole that
Speaker 3: went on for like how many how long did that
Speaker 3: go on? Was it two years?
Speaker 2: Longer than that that went on?
Speaker 3: That he was fighting with them to honor himself, and
Speaker 3: that's what he was fighting for. This is to me,
Speaker 3: this is this is the same damn thing. It's her
Speaker 3: middle name. It's her name, right, he can pull it
Speaker 3: out of thin air. He named the character after her, Yeah, right,
Speaker 3: she should get to use it. She should be able
Speaker 3: to own them saying that them them saying she has
Speaker 3: no ownership to no right to it, personally or professionally.
Speaker 3: The personally really gets me because it's her middle name.
Speaker 3: She has every right to it. I don't know how
Speaker 3: many people I've met in my lifetime that go by
Speaker 3: their middle name, or like parents, especially like guys who
Speaker 3: have sons named Junior, instead of calling him Junior, they
Speaker 3: might call him David the middle name, or instead of
Speaker 3: little Bill and big Bill. You know exactly exactly. They
Speaker 3: should let her own her own dang name. They shouldn't
Speaker 3: be so selfish. Well, and new sides effect, why are
Speaker 3: you paying so much attention to this princess state? How
Speaker 3: about the eight thousand or whatever songs you've got in
Speaker 3: that vault. You got enough music in that vault to
Speaker 3: be releasing an album like every year for the rest
Speaker 3: of my life and beyond. So why aren't you concentrating
Speaker 3: on that. You've got a ton of money making material.
Speaker 3: Leave her alone, let her own her dang name. That's
Speaker 3: my opinion on it.
Speaker 1: Well, the other thing, too is I don't know from
Speaker 1: their I mean, I guess they're going to I guess
Speaker 1: their attitude is they're going to defend the intellectual property
Speaker 1: of quote unquote the estate, no matter what, and and
Speaker 1: but and I understand that from a legal perspective to
Speaker 1: a point.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, what value.
Speaker 3: Like collectual property here?
Speaker 2: No, no, no, but.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying though from a financial standpoint, like what
Speaker 1: value is that name specifically in terms of market like
Speaker 1: what are you marketing where you're making money off of
Speaker 1: the name Apollonia?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 2: I refer to her too.
Speaker 3: They refer to her as Patty.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I noticed that. I noticed that.
Speaker 3: No Patricia, appolonial Kataro, because they're not gonna use the
Speaker 3: whole name because I don't want you. They don't want
Speaker 3: you the public to know that that's actually her middle name.
Speaker 3: People believe that he pulled it out of thin air
Speaker 3: and named her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, most people.
Speaker 3: You know, that's what people think. I would be. I would,
Speaker 3: I would, I would go out on a limon say
Speaker 3: that probably eighty percent of the American public believes that
Speaker 3: Prince pulled the name out of thin air and that's
Speaker 3: where the name came from, not that it was actually
Speaker 3: her middle name, right, you know that For them to
Speaker 3: I just seriously, they have so much money already, and
Speaker 3: there's so much material to make billions of dollars more.
Speaker 3: How much money do you need? Grotesque greed? Let the
Speaker 3: child have her name.
Speaker 2: No, I agree with you? Uh, they say too.
Speaker 1: In their statement, the lawyers for the estate quote miss
Speaker 1: Kataro's unwarranted lawsuit comes at the tail end of years
Speaker 1: long disputes before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board concerning
Speaker 1: trademark registrations in which rulings are imminent and with respect
Speaker 1: to which we have sought a settlement numerous times despite
Speaker 1: her highly unreasonable demands. Unsurprisingly, her suit fails to acknowledge
Speaker 1: the cancelation of her Apollonia registration by the United States
Speaker 1: Patent and Trademark Office. We look forward to the rulings
Speaker 1: and the pending trademark proceedings and a dismissal of Miss
Speaker 1: Gato's recent federal action as is, as is our duty,
Speaker 1: we will continue to protect and preserve Prince's assets and legacy.
Speaker 3: Un Prime me a river with that bowl of a
Speaker 3: mot of malaccy Seriously, I bet you money that they
Speaker 3: had something to do with the cancelation of that trademark.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, maybe they.
Speaker 3: Won't leave her alone to have it their calaiming her.
Speaker 3: Frivolous I call you, frivolous, Princess state, Yeah, leave her alone,
Speaker 3: let her have her middle name, let her live it's
Speaker 3: her name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, leave her.
Speaker 3: You know they made that character together utilizing her middle name.
Speaker 2: Leave him both alone.
Speaker 3: You've got tons of money to make in that vault.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Like, really, what if they released from
Speaker 3: the vault anything and they have how many late thousands
Speaker 3: and thousands. They're so dis disclosively, so much music in
Speaker 3: there that they could quite literally release songs for the
Speaker 3: rest of my life and not run out, and your
Speaker 3: life probably and not run out. He has so much
Speaker 3: material in there, and they've all admitted to it, but
Speaker 3: they're sitting on it, like you want to make money,
Speaker 3: there you go, you got a you got a vault
Speaker 3: full of probably a billion dollars, not not even exaggerating.
Speaker 2: Right, go do that?
Speaker 3: Why this?
Speaker 2: Why this?
Speaker 3: Why are we being so petty
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