Prince Estate Sues To Block EP Release

• Well, that didn’t take long… less than 24 hours after it was announced that Prince’s former producer/engineer George Ian Boxill was releasing five unreleased tracks tomorrow as an EP called Deliverance, the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson took some serious exception in the form of a lawsuit to try and stop Boxill. According to TMZ, when Boxill recorded those tracks with Prince between 2006 and 2008 he had signed a confidentiality agreement that states all recordings “would remain Prince’s sole and exclusive property.”

According to the suit, Boxill had also agreed he “would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever.” Obviously, the pending release of Deliverance would violate that agreement. The Estate also claims it demanded that Boxill return those recordings last month, but he refused. It’s the Estate’s position that the release of these tracks hurts its business interests.

According to the court docs, the EP “deprives Prince (and now the Estate) from choosing what is released to the public and when.” The Estate wants those recordings returned, and plans to block the release of the new music. Time appears to be a factor, since the title track is already available for purchase on iTunes, and four more are supposed to be made available tomorrow, the one-year anniversary of Prince’s death. You are advised to watch this space.

• UPDATE: Late last night, TMZ reported a federal judge had granted the Estate’s request for a restraining order — which means the Deliverance EP will NOT be released tomorrow. George Boxill was ordered to turn over all recordings to the Estate. The restraining order will expire on May 3, unless the court extends it. There will be a hearing before then to address the matter.

However… The order does not address the fact the album has already been pre-ordered by millions of Prince fans. Anyone who did so on iTunes before it was removed Wednesday … got an immediate download of one song.