Seized domain names auction starts today.

2006-04-19
http://www.gayvn.com/index.php?Prima...tent_ID=265033

Rainbow-Zone Group Domain Name Auction Starts Today
By: Doug Lawrence
Posted: 2:00 pm PDT 4-19-2006

SAN FRANCISCO - Nine domain names seized by the U.S. Marshal's office to satisfy outstanding judgments awarded to Titan Media for copyright infringement and unauthorized commercial use of photographs, go on the auction block today.


The following domain names will be sold at auction: Rainbow-Zone.com, Planet-Fetish.com, Planet-Bears.com, Planet-GaySex.com, Planet-Muscle.com, Planet-Uniform.com, Planet-Bblack.com, Gay-Bareback.net, Dirty-Worlds.com, and any other domain name in which Metropole News Group, Easy Planet, or Rainbow Zone have rights or possessory interests.

The judgment stems from a lawsuit brought in 2004 by Io Group which charged that Rainbow-Zone.com "reproduced, distributed, and publicly displayed more than 764 copyrighted photos" belonging to Titan Media.

According to Titan Media General Counsel Gill Sperlein, Rainbow-zone.com was made up almost entirely of illegally obtained content. "The owners attempted to hide by using a series of Delaware limited liability companies," he said. "The only way we were ultimately able to stop the infringement and obtain compensation was by seizing their domain names.

The auction will be held electronically by and through Afternic.com.

No convicted felons and no one related to judgment debtors Metropole News Group, LLC, Easy Planet, LLC, or Rainbow Zone, LLC, will be allowed to purchase the domain names.

Each successful bidder must submit proof of identification and must participate in a short telephone interview with the U.S. Marshal before the sale is finalized.

To bid on the domains please visit:
http://www.afternic.com/name.php?id=11863937

These were high traffic domains with thousands of active members!

I wish Titan with its large resources would help us smaller content producers go after sites that sell our stuff, too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nickbaer

I wish Titan with its large resources would help us smaller content producers go after sites that sell our stuff, too.

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When Titan goes after thieves like this and makes an example of them, that DOES help the smaller producers.

I don't think Titan, or any other company, is in the charity business to help webmasters that can't make it on their own.

Bet you Rainbow-zone.com has more than a few inbound links. I know I had a few to them as that domain was a linklist/directory type thingy. Among other things apparently.

Anyone else getting Network Errors on the Afternic site? I can't seem to get to the pages....

:(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Titanmen

2006-04-19
http://www.gayvn.com/index.php?Prima...tent_ID=265033

Rainbow-Zone Group Domain Name Auction Starts Today
By: Doug Lawrence
Posted: 2:00 pm PDT 4-19-2006

SAN FRANCISCO - Nine domain names seized by the U.S. Marshal's office to satisfy outstanding judgments awarded to Titan Media for copyright infringement and unauthorized commercial use of photographs, go on the auction block today.


The following domain names will be sold at auction: Rainbow-Zone.com, Planet-Fetish.com, Planet-Bears.com, Planet-GaySex.com, Planet-Muscle.com, Planet-Uniform.com, Planet-Bblack.com, Gay-Bareback.net, Dirty-Worlds.com, and any other domain name in which Metropole News Group, Easy Planet, or Rainbow Zone have rights or possessory interests.

The judgment stems from a lawsuit brought in 2004 by Io Group which charged that Rainbow-Zone.com "reproduced, distributed, and publicly displayed more than 764 copyrighted photos" belonging to Titan Media.

According to Titan Media General Counsel Gill Sperlein, Rainbow-zone.com was made up almost entirely of illegally obtained content. "The owners attempted to hide by using a series of Delaware limited liability companies," he said. "The only way we were ultimately able to stop the infringement and obtain compensation was by seizing their domain names.

The auction will be held electronically by and through Afternic.com.

No convicted felons and no one related to judgment debtors Metropole News Group, LLC, Easy Planet, LLC, or Rainbow Zone, LLC, will be allowed to purchase the domain names.

Each successful bidder must submit proof of identification and must participate in a short telephone interview with the U.S. Marshal before the sale is finalized.

To bid on the domains please visit:
http://www.afternic.com/name.php?id=11863937

These were high traffic domains with thousands of active members!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by chadknowslaw

When Titan goes after thieves like this and makes an example of them, that DOES help the smaller producers.

I don't think Titan, or any other company, is in the charity business to help webmasters that can't make it on their own.

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what he said

I agree with what CHad said too. I (as one of the small time producers) really like it when someone goes after these theives that want to take all our hard work and investment and turn around and sell it for their own gain.

I do believe that Titan is sending a strong message out there to all would be thieves. And I bet they cant help but think, if Titan goes after them like this, who can say that there wont be other that will do the same.

We have caught a few people stealing our stuff and had good luck so far getting it taken down through correspondence and DMCAs. But it is nice to know that there is some case law being set that we can lan on ifn the event it ever comes to litigation.

So you can come by here to make an announcement but you can't be bothered to respond to this thread? This not a good sign. :(

Sorry, I've been in Australia for the past several weeks fighting pirates, so I missed that other posting! ;-) I've responded to the psot, thanks for pointing it out to us!

Chad - I'm appalled by your cruel reply to my post.

I'm been a gay content shooter for 20 years, and a web master since 1994. I don't accept your charge that I am a web master who "isn't making it"!


Piracy and theft of intellectual property is a serious matter, of concern to all of us who shoot and market photos and videos. It is a serious legal matter.

There is a raunch site called SpyOnGuys.com that bought copies of a non-raunch title I sell, and re-packaged it on their site, and to this day is selling it through Naughtybids.com . They even took the screen caps from my web site (posted 1997-1999) and put them on their site in 2002.

I complained to Naughtybids.com , and they terminated ME!

I spend my money shooting, and buying from other content providers, and my content supports me and the VOD providers who host my content. The effort Titan made to protect the far more substantial investment in their property pirated by that long list of sites, is light years more than I have invested in my work, and is an effort I cannot make because of my expertise and size - not because I "am not making it".

I think your reply to my post is callous. Perhaps a site pirating my content is a site that also pirates Titan's work, but Titan hasn't found them yet! Perhaps a site pirating my work increasingly pirates other producers work, as they grow bigger and more empowered by their law offending and outlaw behavior. Like a cancerous growth, pirates are emboldened day by day. They will steal from me today, someone larger tomorrow.

I think for someone who boasts of making a huge amount of money in law to suggest that anyone or any entity which invests time and money on behalf of a legal cause that embraces the wider view both inside and outside of their own domain, for the purpose of providing long term defense of their domain and industry at large as being "charitable" as though that is scatter copper or welfare sop, is being effete and imperialistic.

Perhaps to elevate my original thought, let me rephrase: Just as the FSC formed and banded together to fight a legal cause on behalf of those whose business and expertise is not suited to fight legal causes, there should be an effort formed to fight piracy as evidenced by the type and kind of perpetrators successfully concluded by the Titan effort in 2003-2005.

Anyone know of a good Attorney who could put a Anti-Piracy effort together, using FSC as an example, to streamline the process of knocking down and out Pirates who steal our work?

FWIW-- DCMA notifications can be very effective. We found a rogue pay site who was re-selling our content, and we ended up talking to their billing company, their hosting company and of course to them (based in China). In one quick sweep they are were shock-and-awe'd right off the Internet.

(of course, they may pop back up at any moment. that's the sucky part ;-) )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nickbaer

Chad - I'm appalled by your cruel reply to my post.

I'm been a gay content shooter for 20 years, and a web master since 1994. I don't accept your charge that I am a web master who "isn't making it"!


Piracy and theft of intellectual property is a serious matter, of concern to all of us who shoot and market photos and videos. It is a serious legal matter.

There is a raunch site called SpyOnGuys.com that bought copies of a non-raunch title I sell, and re-packaged it on their site, and to this day is selling it through Naughtybids.com . They even took the screen caps from my web site (posted 1997-1999) and put them on their site in 2002.

I complained to Naughtybids.com , and they terminated ME!

I spend my money shooting, and buying from other content providers, and my content supports me and the VOD providers who host my content. The effort Titan made to protect the far more substantial investment in their property pirated by that long list of sites, is light years more than I have invested in my work, and is an effort I cannot make because of my expertise and size - not because I "am not making it".

I think your reply to my post is callous. Perhaps a site pirating my content is a site that also pirates Titan's work, but Titan hasn't found them yet! Perhaps a site pirating my work increasingly pirates other producers work, as they grow bigger and more empowered by their law offending and outlaw behavior. Like a cancerous growth, pirates are emboldened day by day. They will steal from me today, someone larger tomorrow.

I think for someone who boasts of making a huge amount of money in law to suggest that anyone or any entity which invests time and money on behalf of a legal cause that embraces the wider view both inside and outside of their own domain, for the purpose of providing long term defense of their domain and industry at large as being "charitable" as though that is scatter copper or welfare sop, is being effete and imperialistic.

Perhaps to elevate my original thought, let me rephrase: Just as the FSC formed and banded together to fight a legal cause on behalf of those whose business and expertise is not suited to fight legal causes, there should be an effort formed to fight piracy as evidenced by the type and kind of perpetrators successfully concluded by the Titan effort in 2003-2005.

Anyone know of a good Attorney who could put a Anti-Piracy effort together, using FSC as an example, to streamline the process of knocking down and out Pirates who steal our work?

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No offence but thats bullshit, it is YOUR work, YOUR rights being infringed upon, why should anyone else but YOU have to deal with it?

Also, for the record, more than a couple of years ago, there was in fact, an organization (if you can call it that) that would actively seek out individuals using stolen content for their members, the problem was, the guy that was running it was a much bigger asshole than i could ever dream of being, he used to go after affiliates using affiliate content from PPS programs, sending them abusive emails that they would be 'sued' if the content wasnt removed from their sites, needless to say, the vast majority of webmasters and affiliate programs werent to happy with them.

If you are concerned about your content being used illegal, do something about it... Just like Titan are doing, Titan arent asking you to pay their legal fees.. Are they?

Regards,

Lee