Apollonia vs. Prince Estate | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Let's see a little bit of music news here. This

0:02 Speaker 1: is from from NME dot com. Prince's a State responds

0:06 Speaker 1: to Apollonia's quote frivolous lawsuit. Uh this, I remember when

0:11 Speaker 1: when this first broke this, uh this news about uh

0:15 Speaker 1: Apollonia Kato getting into a bit of a conflict there

0:20 Speaker 1: with about Paisley Park, the recording studio that Prince had

0:24 Speaker 1: on his estate, and uh, you know, I've been a

0:27 Speaker 1: fan of uh so coincidentally, I won't I can't say

0:30 Speaker 1: who this individual is or how I know them, but Jenny,

0:32 Speaker 1: I think you'll know who I'm talking about. Yesterday I

0:35 Speaker 1: spent time with someone who h he was wearing a

0:37 Speaker 1: shirt of Prince when Dove's Cry. And I always compliment

0:42 Speaker 1: tom on whenever he wears that shirt. But but yeah,

0:45 Speaker 1: because when Doves Cry? Uh when when that was a

0:48 Speaker 1: big hit, when when we were kids, and I would

0:50 Speaker 1: play that song over and over and over, and you know,

0:52 Speaker 1: huge huge Prince fan. And I've seen Purple Rain I

0:55 Speaker 1: don't know how many times, because you know, it would

0:58 Speaker 1: be on HBO all the time and I would just

1:00 Speaker 1: watch it over and over and over. By the way,

1:03 Speaker 1: poly c from Retrospect Radio with poly c has never

1:05 Speaker 1: seen Purple Rain?

1:07 Speaker 2: Can you believe that?

1:08 Speaker 3: But he never watched I.

1:09 Speaker 1: Know he's never seen that. He's never seen this as

1:11 Speaker 1: spinal tap, he's missing out. But so this is the

1:15 Speaker 1: story from eneme dot com. Princess of State has responded

1:18 Speaker 1: to singer songwriter Apollonia's lawsuit, dismissing it as frivolous and unwarranted.

1:23 Speaker 1: The US artist, actor, and former model a real name,

1:27 Speaker 1: Patricia Apollonia Kataro, starred in Prince's classic nineteen eighty four

1:31 Speaker 1: film Purple Rain, portraying his love interest who has the

1:35 Speaker 1: name Apollonia. She recently filed the fourteen page complaint against

1:39 Speaker 1: the late Icons of State Paisley Park Enterprises in a

1:43 Speaker 1: Los Angeles federal court, accusing it of attempting to steal

1:46 Speaker 1: her name. Kataro claims in the suit that after appearing

1:50 Speaker 1: in Purple Rain, Prince never asked her to stop going

1:54 Speaker 1: by the name Apollonia and did not quote contend that

1:58 Speaker 1: the name did not belong to her, either personally or

2:01 Speaker 1: professionally unquote. She alleges it was on the contrary, and

2:05 Speaker 1: that quote Prince himself consented and encouraged Apollonia in her

2:09 Speaker 1: professional endeavors unquote under that name. Kato has now used

2:13 Speaker 1: the name for over four decades and released numerous projects

2:17 Speaker 1: using the alias. Her legal team claims that Prince's Estate

2:20 Speaker 1: was out of line when it tried to claim ownership

2:24 Speaker 1: of the Apollonia trademark in June. She alleges that the

2:28 Speaker 1: estate filed an intent to use application that would allow

2:30 Speaker 1: it to use the name in connection with clothing and

2:33 Speaker 1: entertainment services. Kato also claims that Paisley Park Enterprises has

2:37 Speaker 1: made moves to try and cancel her trademark applications and

2:40 Speaker 1: registrations despite her being the rightful owner now the estate.

2:44 Speaker 1: By the way, this is a different thing than what

2:47 Speaker 1: I the conflict I was referring to earlier, because prior

2:51 Speaker 1: to all of this, Apollonia was complaining about something else

2:53 Speaker 1: related to this organization and the Paisley Park Recording studio.

2:59 Speaker 1: But apparently that's a completely separate thing. So I don't

3:01 Speaker 1: know whatever happened with that. I guess nothing, but this

3:03 Speaker 1: is this is interesting. So now the Estate has responded

3:06 Speaker 1: via a written statement posted on Prince's official social media channels,

3:10 Speaker 1: quote regrettably, Miss Patty Kataro aka Apolonia filed a frivolous

3:15 Speaker 1: lawsuit as she acknowledges Apollonia is the name Prince gave

3:19 Speaker 1: to the character played by Miss Kataro in Prince's movie

3:22 Speaker 1: Purple Rain over forty years ago. We never instructed her

3:25 Speaker 1: to sease using her adopted professional name, nor did we

3:28 Speaker 1: object to her business activities. In fact, we repeatedly offered

3:31 Speaker 1: her opportunities to perform at Paisley Park using this professional name.

3:36 Speaker 2: Unquote. So because wait, can.

3:39 Speaker 3: We mention the fact that he didn't come up with

3:42 Speaker 3: it out of thin air? It's her middle name.

3:44 Speaker 2: Yeah, her middle name is with the name right right, Yeah.

3:48 Speaker 3: And the way they're talking about it really galls me

3:51 Speaker 3: because it's like, do you remember when when Prince was

3:56 Speaker 3: in a fight with the label and he wrote slave

3:58 Speaker 3: across his cheek. Yeah, and he wouldn't use the name

4:01 Speaker 3: Prince because of the way they were using his name.

4:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, he became an unpronounceable symbol. Yes, And the artist

4:07 Speaker 1: formerly known as the same.

4:08 Speaker 3: Damn thing being done in reverse to her, Well, it's

4:12 Speaker 3: her middle name. He didn't pull it out of thin air. No, Yes,

4:15 Speaker 3: he named the character that, but it's her right.

4:18 Speaker 1: Well, but the other weird thing is they're they're claiming

4:20 Speaker 1: they never told her not to use the name. So

4:23 Speaker 1: I don't I don't know what the hang up is here.

4:26 Speaker 1: There's more than this article. But I wonder if maybe

4:28 Speaker 1: there's a matter of how she uses the name.

4:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, but they've gotten in the way of her trying

4:34 Speaker 3: to trademarcket herself her own name.

4:37 Speaker 2: Yeah, own herself.

4:40 Speaker 1: That's that's that's true, right, she wants to be able

4:42 Speaker 1: to own the name. It says here. Also, h oh,

4:47 Speaker 1: this is also.

4:48 Speaker 3: I remember they said that they that the name doesn't

4:51 Speaker 3: belong to her personally or professionally. It's her middle name.

4:56 Speaker 3: How does that not belong to her personally?

4:59 Speaker 1: There are are exceptions though, trademark law and copyright law

5:03 Speaker 1: and intellectual property. It's all very fascinating to me, But there's.

5:06 Speaker 3: There say it doesn't belong to her.

5:08 Speaker 2: But there's there's but there are there are exceptions.

5:10 Speaker 1: Just as a random example, because Hall and Oates, for example,

5:13 Speaker 1: they recently settled.

5:14 Speaker 3: Uh oh did they finally?

5:15 Speaker 1: They finally through arbitration, they settled their whole legal dispute.

5:18 Speaker 1: But so let's say, for example, your name is Daryl Hall,

5:22 Speaker 1: and you have a friend named John Oates and you

5:24 Speaker 1: decide you're going to form a musical duo and go

5:26 Speaker 1: out and perform, and those are your real names. It

5:29 Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You're still gonna get slapped down for that,

5:32 Speaker 1: you know what I mean.

5:33 Speaker 3: Okay, but that's different. That's something happening after the fact.

5:37 Speaker 3: The creation of Apollonia, the character came in part out of.

5:42 Speaker 2: Her right, Well, I'll tell me.

5:44 Speaker 3: Yeah, he named the character after he cast her, not before.

5:48 Speaker 3: He didn't come up with the name Apollonia and then go, oh, look,

5:50 Speaker 3: I found a chick who has the Appollodia middle name.

5:53 Speaker 3: That's not what happened. I met her, wanted to cast

5:56 Speaker 3: her and then name the character her middle name.

5:59 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know what Prince's long term intentions

6:01 Speaker 1: were with that, but I do know it can get complicated.

6:05 Speaker 1: Dealing with Prince was complicated because Morris Day of Morris

6:08 Speaker 1: Day in the Time. Sure, he's talked about that, how

6:11 Speaker 1: difficult that was. Because you know, so you watch you

6:16 Speaker 1: you watch the movie, and of course Morris Day on

6:18 Speaker 1: the Time as one of the bands in the movie.

6:20 Speaker 1: And then but if you do some digging, you find

6:22 Speaker 1: out that was really Prince's band. You know, he put

6:26 Speaker 1: he put those guys together, Uh, Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis,

6:30 Speaker 1: who went on to become very successful producers. Uh they

6:34 Speaker 1: produced Janet Jackson and stuff. But they were also a

6:36 Speaker 1: part of that band along with Morris Day. That that

6:38 Speaker 1: was the time. That was Prince's creation. And then and

6:42 Speaker 1: then so Morris Day had problems with you know, so

6:46 Speaker 1: later on years after Purple Rain, he's trying to tour

6:48 Speaker 1: as Purple Rain. I mean, I'm sorry, as Purple He's

6:51 Speaker 1: trying to tour as Morris Day on the time, and

6:53 Speaker 1: he's got, he's got he's getting a hard time.

6:56 Speaker 3: About it because if she was trying to use Apollonius,

6:59 Speaker 3: no I'm not, I'm not which was her, But now

7:01 Speaker 3: I'm a c No, I'm just saying.

7:03 Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that's com dealing with Prince was complicated.

7:06 Speaker 1: That was That was my only point.

7:08 Speaker 2: That's true.

7:09 Speaker 3: It is true. But it is interesting that you bring

7:11 Speaker 3: that up because he did create the time, just like

7:13 Speaker 3: he did create Apollonia six, which was her with.

7:17 Speaker 2: Two other girls.

7:19 Speaker 3: Was so weird, right, six but three people, and you know,

7:24 Speaker 3: and that was his creation, and that was music. He

7:27 Speaker 3: created her and in the name Apollonia, I'm sorry, it's

7:33 Speaker 3: her middle name. Let her use her dang name.

7:37 Speaker 2: They should, well, they are trying.

7:38 Speaker 3: To use Apollonius. No, but they're stopping own her own name.

7:44 Speaker 3: And that I find I find is really upsetting to

7:47 Speaker 3: me because it completely flies in the face of what

7:51 Speaker 3: Prince did in his time to have ownership of himself

7:55 Speaker 3: and what he did to teach the music world about

7:59 Speaker 3: ownership of health, ownership of artistry. Right, the whole that

8:03 Speaker 3: went on for like how many how long did that

8:04 Speaker 3: go on? Was it two years?

8:07 Speaker 2: Longer than that that went on?

8:08 Speaker 3: That he was fighting with them to honor himself, and

8:11 Speaker 3: that's what he was fighting for. This is to me,

8:13 Speaker 3: this is this is the same damn thing. It's her

8:16 Speaker 3: middle name. It's her name, right, he can pull it

8:20 Speaker 3: out of thin air. He named the character after her, Yeah, right,

8:24 Speaker 3: she should get to use it. She should be able

8:26 Speaker 3: to own them saying that them them saying she has

8:30 Speaker 3: no ownership to no right to it, personally or professionally.

8:35 Speaker 3: The personally really gets me because it's her middle name.

8:39 Speaker 3: She has every right to it. I don't know how

8:41 Speaker 3: many people I've met in my lifetime that go by

8:42 Speaker 3: their middle name, or like parents, especially like guys who

8:47 Speaker 3: have sons named Junior, instead of calling him Junior, they

8:49 Speaker 3: might call him David the middle name, or instead of

8:52 Speaker 3: little Bill and big Bill. You know exactly exactly. They

8:56 Speaker 3: should let her own her own dang name. They shouldn't

9:00 Speaker 3: be so selfish. Well, and new sides effect, why are

9:02 Speaker 3: you paying so much attention to this princess state? How

9:05 Speaker 3: about the eight thousand or whatever songs you've got in

9:07 Speaker 3: that vault. You got enough music in that vault to

9:10 Speaker 3: be releasing an album like every year for the rest

9:12 Speaker 3: of my life and beyond. So why aren't you concentrating

9:16 Speaker 3: on that. You've got a ton of money making material.

9:19 Speaker 3: Leave her alone, let her own her dang name. That's

9:21 Speaker 3: my opinion on it.

9:23 Speaker 1: Well, the other thing, too is I don't know from

9:25 Speaker 1: their I mean, I guess they're going to I guess

9:30 Speaker 1: their attitude is they're going to defend the intellectual property

9:34 Speaker 1: of quote unquote the estate, no matter what, and and

9:38 Speaker 1: but and I understand that from a legal perspective to

9:41 Speaker 1: a point.

9:42 Speaker 2: But at the same time, what value.

9:45 Speaker 3: Like collectual property here?

9:48 Speaker 2: No, no, no, but.

9:48 Speaker 1: I'm just saying though from a financial standpoint, like what

9:53 Speaker 1: value is that name specifically in terms of market like

9:57 Speaker 1: what are you marketing where you're making money off of

10:00 Speaker 1: the name Apollonia?

10:01 Speaker 3: You know what?

10:01 Speaker 2: I refer to her too.

10:02 Speaker 3: They refer to her as Patty.

10:04 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I noticed that. I noticed that.

10:06 Speaker 3: No Patricia, appolonial Kataro, because they're not gonna use the

10:09 Speaker 3: whole name because I don't want you. They don't want

10:11 Speaker 3: you the public to know that that's actually her middle name.

10:14 Speaker 3: People believe that he pulled it out of thin air

10:17 Speaker 3: and named her.

10:18 Speaker 2: Yeah, most people.

10:19 Speaker 3: You know, that's what people think. I would be. I would,

10:23 Speaker 3: I would, I would go out on a limon say

10:25 Speaker 3: that probably eighty percent of the American public believes that

10:28 Speaker 3: Prince pulled the name out of thin air and that's

10:30 Speaker 3: where the name came from, not that it was actually

10:33 Speaker 3: her middle name, right, you know that For them to

10:36 Speaker 3: I just seriously, they have so much money already, and

10:41 Speaker 3: there's so much material to make billions of dollars more.

10:45 Speaker 3: How much money do you need? Grotesque greed? Let the

10:48 Speaker 3: child have her name.

10:50 Speaker 2: No, I agree with you? Uh, they say too.

10:54 Speaker 1: In their statement, the lawyers for the estate quote miss

10:56 Speaker 1: Kataro's unwarranted lawsuit comes at the tail end of years

10:59 Speaker 1: long disputes before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board concerning

11:02 Speaker 1: trademark registrations in which rulings are imminent and with respect

11:06 Speaker 1: to which we have sought a settlement numerous times despite

11:09 Speaker 1: her highly unreasonable demands. Unsurprisingly, her suit fails to acknowledge

11:13 Speaker 1: the cancelation of her Apollonia registration by the United States

11:17 Speaker 1: Patent and Trademark Office. We look forward to the rulings

11:20 Speaker 1: and the pending trademark proceedings and a dismissal of Miss

11:23 Speaker 1: Gato's recent federal action as is, as is our duty,

11:27 Speaker 1: we will continue to protect and preserve Prince's assets and legacy.

11:30 Speaker 3: Un Prime me a river with that bowl of a

11:33 Speaker 3: mot of malaccy Seriously, I bet you money that they

11:38 Speaker 3: had something to do with the cancelation of that trademark.

11:42 Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, maybe they.

11:44 Speaker 3: Won't leave her alone to have it their calaiming her.

11:47 Speaker 3: Frivolous I call you, frivolous, Princess state, Yeah, leave her alone,

11:51 Speaker 3: let her have her middle name, let her live it's

11:53 Speaker 3: her name.

11:54 Speaker 2: Yeah, leave her.

11:56 Speaker 3: You know they made that character together utilizing her middle name.

12:00 Speaker 2: Leave him both alone.

12:01 Speaker 3: You've got tons of money to make in that vault.

12:02 Speaker 3: Oh my god, Like, really, what if they released from

12:05 Speaker 3: the vault anything and they have how many late thousands

12:11 Speaker 3: and thousands. They're so dis disclosively, so much music in

12:14 Speaker 3: there that they could quite literally release songs for the

12:18 Speaker 3: rest of my life and not run out, and your

12:22 Speaker 3: life probably and not run out. He has so much

12:25 Speaker 3: material in there, and they've all admitted to it, but

12:28 Speaker 3: they're sitting on it, like you want to make money,

12:30 Speaker 3: there you go, you got a you got a vault

12:33 Speaker 3: full of probably a billion dollars, not not even exaggerating.

12:38 Speaker 2: Right, go do that?

12:41 Speaker 3: Why this?

12:42 Speaker 2: Why this?

12:42 Speaker 3: Why are we being so petty