Titan Wins Copyright Case

[LavenderLounge]

Gay adult film company wins copyright case

Tom Musbach, PlanetOut Network

SUMMARY: Titan Media, a major producer of gay adult films, won a copyright suit against a Web producer who was accused of stealing and posting hundreds of Titan's images on his sites.

Titan Media, a San Francisco-based producer of gay adult films, won a copyright infringement case on Friday against a Web producer who was accused of stealing and posting on his sites hundreds of Titan's images.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White awarded $418,500 in damages to the company. According to a Titan Media press release, the award amounts to $1,500 for each of the 279 photographs that were illegally published.

The defendant named in the case is Timothy J. Ward, who used the stolen images on the sites www.sobe-cfg.com and www.sobear.com, according to Titan Media.

"We are extremely pleased with this large award by the courts," said Keith Webb, vice president of Titan Media. "But we are even more pleased that this judgment continues to amplify our warning to online thieves: If you steal from Titan, you will get caught and you will pay the price."

He added that Titan Media still has other lawsuits pending, with more on the way.

Like the U.S. recording industry, Titan Media has been fighting the illegal downloading and sharing of electronic files for the past few years. The company says that electronic versions of its adult photos and videos are proprietary in the same way that digital versions of hit songs are for record companies and musical artists.

Peer-2-Peer (P2P) networks, such as Kazaa, eDonkey and Grokster, are a main source of the problem for most entertainment companies, Webb said.

"We actively monitor and track down users stealing and trading our video files in the P2P networks," Webb told the PlanetOut Network. "In the past year we have caught over 475,000 people stealing our content worldwide in the P2P networks. We aggressively go after them, and have had a 90 percent compliance rating for the removal of our content from illegal trading online."

[Dawgy]

you know whats really interesting about titan?

it seems they have some magical ability to find their pictures on people's servers, even when those pictures arent being linked to, or used, in any way. even when server logs show that those files havent been accessed in years, if ever, they still manage to find those images.

think about it.

[jIgG]

people report images they think are stolen. that site sobe-cfg.com has been around a while at least since 97-98 and had lots of images. and they probably have peole looking for thieves.

good they got his ass nailed, $418Gs is great price to pay and all the others that like to steal photos and videos would be wise to take note and pay attention - if ya didn't pay for it or ask to use it you can't post it.

[Lee]

Originally posted by Dawgy
you know whats really interesting about titan?

it seems they have some magical ability to find their pictures on people's servers, even when those pictures arent being linked to, or used, in any way. even when server logs show that those files havent been accessed in years, if ever, they still manage to find those images.

think about it.

What is even more interesting is they have successfully sued 5 adult companies / operators in the last 2 years that i am aware of and they had hefty damage rewards for each case.

It almost makes you wonder if it is more profitable to sue for damages than to legitamately go about business in the adult industry

Regards,

Lee

[Bec]

Originally posted by Lee
It almost makes you wonder if it is more profitable to sue for damages than to legitamately go about business in the adult industry

Regards,

Lee

no shit ... seriously, how much work, time, content, years would it take to produce a half million bucks from a site? x5 ... stagers the mind ya know?

somebody illegally put my pic on a site please ... LOL

[jIgG]

mine's already floating
im gona sue and get rich