Aristotle once said, "There was never a genius without a tincture of madness."

In a year in which he has been dubbed a genius for blazing new trails in a changing music industry, Prince has risked approaching the latter with his latest move to legally challenge his fan sites.

The artist formerly known as a symbol recently served cease-and-desist orders on fan sites to remove all images of the singer, his lyrics and "anything linked to Prince's likeness." The images at issue included fans' photographs of Prince-inspired tattoos and vehicles displaying Prince-inspired license plates.

But several fan sites have banded together and vowed to fight back against what they said was censorship. Under the banner Prince Fans United, Housequake.com, Princefams.com, and Prince.org have vowed to wage a legal battle with Prince if necessary.

"We strongly believe that such actions are in violation of ... freedom of speech and should not be allowed," the sites said in a statement.

But the company Prince hired to control his online image told Reuters that the fan sites had overstated Prince's intentions.

"At no time is Prince suing his fans and this is not about freedom of speech," John Giacobbi, managing director of Internet policing specialist Web Sheriff, told Reuters. "The current issue is one between Prince's record label and three unofficial Web sites and relates to the use of Prince trademarks and photographs, many of which are Prince's copyright."

The news of a standoff between Prince and his fan sites comes in the wake of a series of innovative moves for which the legendary singer has been widely praised. Prince won a Webby Award last year for "reshaping the relationship between artist and fan."

In July, Prince gave away thousands of copies of his latest album, Planet Earth, through a promotion with the UK newspaper Mail on Sunday. He silenced critics of that move by following it up with a sold-out 21-date residency at the O2 arena in London, and a subsequent seven-week run at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.