Morris Day has claimed that Prince‘s estate has barred him from using the band name Morris Day and the Time.

Day, the lead singer for the Prince-affiliated funk band, claimed in a social media post that the Prince estate had told him he could no longer use the name Morris Day and The Time.

“I’ve given 40 years of my life building up a name and legacy that Prince and I came up with,” Day wrote. “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.”

“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,” he continued. “So as of now, per the Prince Estate, I can no longer use Morris Day & The Time in any capacity.”

However, in response to his claim, the Prince Estate has released a statement disputing his allegations.

The Prince estate said, “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.”

Day’s team later shared the Prince estate’s initial letter from December with Billboard.

Attorneys for the estate reportedly took issue with Day’s attempt to trademark the name Morris Day and the Time and cited an alleged 1982 agreement that Prince’s company would own the rights to the name.

“Accordingly, Mr. Day has no right to use or register ‘The Time’ in any form,” the December letter reads. “That includes use and registration of the trademark ‘Morris Day and the Time.’”

(Photo: John Rohne)

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