Morris Day took to the streets of social media and left folks in total shock when he announced Prince‘s estate has forbidden him from using his stage name, “Morris Day & The Time.”
In a statement posted on his Instagram page, Morris wrote:
I’ve given 40 years of my life building up a name and legacy that Prince and I came up with.
A name that while he was alive, he had no problem with me using.
I literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into bringing value to that name.
In fact, he booked me on several tours, and many jam packed nights at Paisley Park, under the name Morris Day & The Time.
Not once ever saying to me that I couldn’t use that name configuration..
However, now that Prince is no longer with us – suddenly, the people who control his multi-million dollar estate, want to rewrite history by taking my name away from me, thus impacting how I feed my family.
So as of now, per the Prince Estate, I can no longer use Morris Day & The Time in any capacity.
See his original post below.
Morris’ announcement left many baffled including Jamie Foxx, who commented, “Wtf!!”
Morris Day returned to social media to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support.
I want to thank everyone for their thoughts & support regarding this estate matter.
I felt all of your love and energy yesterday, and I look forward to your continued support until we find resolve.
Thank you‼️????????
See the post below.
One thing is for certain, Morris is not going down without a fight and that’s on Oak Tree!
He wrote:
What did @arseniohall say in “Coming To America”? “His Mama Named Him Clay Imma call him Clay”… Well My Mama Named Me Morris Day, and My Band Is “The Time”‼️????
See the post below.
Well… Prince’s estate is telling a different story.
Apparently, this all began because Morris Day attempted to trademark the name “Morris Day & The Time.”
But, a 1982 contract shows Prince is the ‘sole and exclusive owner of all rights in and to’ The Time.
The estate released the following statement to Variety:
Given Prince’s longstanding history with Morris Day and what the Estate thought were amicable discussions, The Prince Estate was surprised and disappointed to see his recent post.
The Estate is open to working proactively with Morris to resolve this matter.
However, the information that he shared is not entirely accurate.
The estate is open to licensing the name “The Time” to Morris Day so that he can continue performing as usual.
Rather than file a petition to cancel, the Estate would prefer to discuss this matter with you and resolve it through an agreement that recognizes the Estate’s rights in the trademark THE TIME and licenses Mr. Day to use the trademark MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME with the services identified in the existing trademark registration and goods related to such services, such as musical sound recordings and musical video recordings.
The biggest issue in the music business – is the business.
I’m not sure why Morris would try to trademark a name he doesn’t own, but I do hope he can reach some type of resolution with the estate to license the name.
Your thoughts?
Source: Variety
