14 DAY TRIAL // I knew such a thing had to happen, because there's no video sharing service on the web that managed to escape without any single lawsuit filed for copyright infringement. But, I must admit that today's legal dispute is pretty attractive, since it includes two let's say 'special' companies focused on adult material. Vivid Entertainment Group sued Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network for copyright infringement, after several pornographic videos were published on PornoTube, a popular video sharing technology based on adult content. Just like the past complaints addressed to other similar services, PornoTube allowed users to upload content without the owners' authorization, which obviously attracted copyright holders' attention.
PornoTube managed to improve its business by using videos published without authorization, Vivid's lawyer said in a public statement. Using the lawsuit, Vivid Entertainment Group aims to stop services such as PornoTube from publishing copyright protected content on the web, unless the owner gives the approval for this process.
"This action against PornoTube is groundbreaking. AEBN and PornoTube are not exempt from their responsibility to comply with 2257 rules, and we will demonstrate in court that they are obtaining an unfair business advantage by violating this obligation", said Vivid's attorney Paul Cambria.
"Vivid should not have to take responsibility for policing PornoTube on a minute by minute basis to protect its rights", Mr. Cambria said. "Vivid has already found dozens of violations of its copyrights, and AEBN needs to know that it cannot continue pilfering Vivid's products no matter how they might reformat or reshape it. Once they put up any material on their site and fit it into their format, they are no longer just a 'pass through' medium-they have become producers or distributors under the law".
YouTube, the giant video sharing service owned by the Mountain View company Google, was also sued by numerous copyright holders after their content was published without authorization. However, YouTube has always claimed that its services are protected by the DMCA act, which states that such a technology is not responsible for the content uploaded by the users. YouTube has even managed to won a lawsuit using the DMCA support.
Daniela Cicarelli, Ronaldo's ex-wife, lost the legal dispute against Google's product, after the judge ordered that the users were the ones who uploaded the content on YouTube, so the service could be accused for publishing videos without approval.