She has a copyright too
It’s worth stressing that anyone who creates an original work, and who then fixes said work in a tangible means, is entitled to Copyright protection. Somehow, Hollywood seemed to be the only movie producer whose works kept getting infringed, and woefully ignored was the adult entertainment industry and their infringement (let’s not kid ourselves, more adult movies are pirated than “normal” movies).
Well, “Booby-Wood” (Damn, too easy) has struck back (again, no pun intended). Via InternetCases, Attorney John Steele (I swear I’m not making this up) has filed three lawsuits on behalf of adult entertainment producers against BitTorrent downloaders.
Millennium TGA, Inc. v. Does 1-100
Lightspeed Media Corporation v. Does 1-100
Hard Drive Productions v. Does 1-100
As you can see, the complaint doesn’t have named defendants (much to their dignity) but instead copies their IP addresses as logged from Bit Torrent servers. Another fun note for those of you learning about Copyright is to notice the allegation in which the plaintiff states that registration is pending. (Ie. “Each of the creative works at issue in this action, including the applicable Shemale Yum, Trannies From Hell, and Shemale Pornstar collections has an application for registration pending in the United States Copyright Office).
This is no mere allegation, but a crucial one when suing under the Copyright Act. Although mere creation and fixation grants you the right, it is registration of the work which gives you jurisdiction to sue in Federal Court. The work need not be registered per se, but the application must be filed.
To all those who download sans the payment, beware. Few things will be less dignifying then being dragged into court for downloading porn.
*Photo by joanna8555 via Flickr
