Titan Media Sues Gay Porn Pirate Blog Operator and 21 “John Does”

[Titanmen]

Titan Media Sues Gay Porn Pirate Blog Operator and 21 “John Does”

(San Francisco, October 2nd, 2007) Titan Media, parent company of gay adult brands TitanMen, TitanMen Fresh, ManPlay and MSR Video, is pleased to announce they have shutdown and filed suit against a major online gay porn piracy ring. The lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California names Gilbert Michael Gonzales of Desert Hot Springs, CA as the ring leader, along with 21 “John Doe” defendants. The suit alleges willful copyright infringment of more than 45 Titan Media owned films. Gonzales’ ring is believed to be responsible for more than 100,000+ illegal downloads of Titan Media properties.

Operating under the online pseudonym “MikeyG”, Gonzales operated numerous anonymous and pseudo-anonymous blogs devoted solely to the illegal trafficking of stolen gay adult films. As many as 6 different blogs were operated under various pseudonyms and hosted across several free blog hosting providers. 3 of the illicit blogs were hosted on the Google owned property Blogspot.com and the final pirate blog being hosted on social networking provider Ning.com.

“The message we are sending is that you can run, but you cannot hide”, says Keith Webb, Vice President of Titan Media. “Mr. Gonzales thought he could hide behind anonymous blogs and postings, but he was seriously mistaken. People need to realize that nothing they do online is anonymous. Every single posting, upload, download or page view is tracked and recorded, and can eventually be traced back to the individual. Mr. Gonzales taunted us in his online blog postings to try and catch him and shut him down… so we did. If you steal Titan Media property we will identify you and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”

This action underscores Titan Media’s aggressive and highly successful anti-piracy policy. Known as a leader in the world of online adult anti-piracy, Titan Media has battled and won over 40 copyright infringement lawsuits for the online theft of its properties. With this action Titan Media address a new and growing trend in online piracy blogs. These rings utilize free hosted blogs provided by Blogspot.com and others to disseminate the location of stolen and pirated video files residing on free file hosting site such as Rapidshare.com. By combining the free services provided by the for-profit hosting providers they can easily and efficiently operate piracy rings on a mass scale.

“Although there is only one named defendant in the initial complaint, we know that there are at least 21 additional John Doe defendants to be added,” says Gill Sperlein, General Counsel for Titan Media. “We are in the process of subpoenaing the various internet service providers to determine the true names and address of the other active members of the piracy ring and will add their names to the complaint as they are discovered.”

A copy of the complaint can be downloaded at http://www.TitanMedia.com/PiracyRing.pdf

[DonMike]

Right on!!! I'm glad someone is doing something to fight all the piracy going on with these blogs. It seems like we're always contacting rapidshare and all kinds of places trying to get our links pulled down because the people who run the blogs use fake emails or just don't respond. Kudos!

[Squirt]

Wow this is great to hear! I love seeing the posts of Titan suing crooks (and winning). Makes me feel a bit vindicated from constantly having my content stolen and uploaded to these sites. People who steal like this deserve EVERYTHING bad that happens to them.

Way to go Titan! :bunny:

[gaybucks_chip]

I particularly would like to thank Titan for making the (expensive) commitment to going after piracy at this level. While it of course has benefits for Titan, it is also a great service to the industry as a whole, and one of the rare cases of a company making decisions that truly benefit the entire industry.

Hopefully some day we'll have an industry association that is effective and focused on issues such as piracy that affect us, but in the meantime, I and I'm sure a lot of others really appreciate the efforts made by Titan and Gil Sperlein.

[chadknowslaw]

Kudos gentlemen!


It is a costly thing to do -- but necessary. How can I say I wish more producers would do the same thing without sounding like I am shamelessly promoting myself??

[Squirt]

Kudos gentlemen!


It is a costly thing to do -- but necessary. How can I say I wish more producers would do the same thing without sounding like I am shamelessly promoting myself??

What do you charge for cease and desist or pursuing blogs, password sites, torrents etc that steal from us? Just a rough ballpark :cash: :cash:

[chadknowslaw]

What do you charge for cease and desist or pursuing blogs, password sites, torrents etc that steal from us? Just a rough ballpark :cash: :cash:

That depends on so many factors. One letter might take care of the problem and get the content taken down -- so the cost is under $101. From that point on, expect to spend $200 to $450 per hour of attorney time to pursue the pirate. Do you want to go to all ends of the earth, to find the culprit hiding at an internet cafe somewhere in Russia without a dollar's worth of assets?

Typically the trail ends at the host, the material is removed from the net, and you have spent less than $1000. And no, you don't get any of that back.