Jamie Spears Squashes Britney Fansite
http://tinyurl.com/co2yrcJamie Spears has knocked the wind out of BreatheHeavy.com.
In a note to readers, the purveyor of the "Number One Britney Spears Fansite," stated that the popster's father has demanded that he shut down the website—which has been critical of Britney's present conservatorship arrangement—calling him "an über-fan who has gone too far."
"I have been battling the conservatorship Britney is currently placed under for months now," wrote BreatheHeavy owner Jordan Miller. "When I did not conform to the requests and demands Britney's management and father, Jamie Spears, recently put upon BreatheHeavy to stay quiet, they in turn became angry and malicious, launching, what I feel is an unjust attack, against me and my website."
According to Miller, he received a notice from Jamie's legal camp pressuring him to make the site go away by 3 p.m. PT today or face an injunction.
The legal missive charged Miller with various copyright and trademark violations for posting Britney song lyrics, photos, videos and audio clips without permission.
But Miller, for one, isn't buying it.
"The real issue, in my opinion, is hidden behind these Copyright Infringement claims, rather management, particularly her father/conservator, Jamie Spears, who makes $18,000 a month off his daughter, is desperately trying to hide the truth about Britney's imprisonment, and shut anyone up who disagrees with their conniving and selfish exploitation of an innocent mother of 2 pushed back into the limelight just several months after a hospitalization," Miller writes.
Per the terms of the conservatorship, Jamie collects $2,500 per week from Britney's estate, plus funds to lease a car.
Miller claims that Jamie Spears threatened over the phone "to destroy [his] ass" if he didn't wipe the site clean.
"They are saying that I am using Britney's name and image without her consent to make money, even though the money is going back into the website," Miller, a Las Vegas college student, told E! News Friday. "The lawyers don't care whether or not I'm making [a] profit. They say that any image of Britney I use is infringement and in violation of her right to publicity and privacy."
The Spears lawyers wouldn't give him specific examples of the so-called violations, however, he said. But they have offered to let him keep the site up so long as they have a final say over everything he posts.
"But if they do that it's not my website. It's just another website they can manage and control," Miller said.
BreathHeavy.com is currently up and running, but all links lead to Miller's farewell letter.
"I...want to thank you with all my heart for the loyalty and support you've shown over the last 5 years BreatheHeavy has been open," Miller wrote.
A rep for Spears did not immediately return a request for comment.
—Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz
(Originally published March 27, 2009, at 5:34 p.m. PT)
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