NL- I love outspoken women who stand up for themselves. You Go Vicky!~
Adult superstar Vicky Vette http://www.vickyathome.com announces today that she has filed a lawsuit against Rapidshare in Los Angeles County. Vicky Vette is the first major star in the adult entertainment business to file a lawsuit against Rapidshare for repeatedly allowing her content to be uploaded and given away for free to surfers. Vette has received numerous accolades in the adult business including an AVN, Booble Girl of the Year and runner up in the recent Miss Freeones contest. She runs the Vette Nation Network of websites for stars such as Sunny Lane, Deauxma, Sara Jay and others.
Vicky Vette is quoted as saying:
"The adult industry has complained bitterly about torrent sites and file sharing sites like Rapidshare destroying the business, but for some reason no one has stepped up to the plate and done anything about it. Instead of whining, I decided to put my money where my mouth is, and retained an
attorney to sue them. I have lots of popular exclusive content like my ‘Lavatory Occupied’ series that is repeatedly available on Rapidshare for download without my permission. After months of sending one cease and desist after another demanding them to take my content down and warning that
I was going to sue, I have decided to finally take legal action. Rapidshare promised me they would "filter" their content, but I just found ‘Lavatory Occupied’… once again… sitting on their servers and free to the world. I think it must be deliberate, or they just don’t care. They seem to feel they are immune to action.
I have no idea if I am going to win or lose but this industry has to step up and do something. I am not going to sit back and let another company steal my content and make money from it without a fight. Anytime I mention this to other people in the business I am shocked that they shrug their shoulders and seem resigned to the STEALING that is going on. Rapidshare is nothing more than a Napster of porn. Napster was forced to comply with the law after being sued. I am hoping to set an example. Just because my content is adult does not mean that it is not worthy of protection. It costs me money to make it and it is valuable to me. Just a couple of months ago a comic book publishing consortium got an injunction for similar infringing behavior against Rapidshare. I figured that it was a great time to strike.
If you have been the victim of similar theft and want to perhaps join forces in suing Rapidshare email me at vicky@vickyathome.com and I will gladly put you in contact with my attorney. I understand another prominent company may be jumping on the bandwagon and I am happy to lead the assault."
Vicky Vette’s original blog on the subject can be viewed here. http://blog.vickyathome.com/uncategorized/my-war-against-rapidshare-thieves.html
Vicky Vette:
Are your works registered with the Copyright Office?
Seems it will be David against Goliath but…one should admire Vicky to go into action…compare to all the whiners that won’t do anything.
I applaud Vicky Vette for attempting to do something, but I guarantee her lawsuit will be dismissed in Rapidshare’s favor in less than 6 months. I hope she’s been advised that she could be liable for Rapidshare’s costs and attorney’s fees.
It’s an uphill battle, but it’s just not Rapidshare. I can use Google to search for any Vicky Vette torrent out there.
FYI:
http://www.google.com/search?&q=vicky+vette+:torrent
Filing a pointless lawsuit isn’t my idea of “standing up for herself.” I hope she doesn’t get beat up too badly in terms of court costs and so on, because I don’t think she’s doing this with ill-intent… it’s just a waste of everyone’s time, and aligns her with company that I hate to see anyone keep.
y’know, I always thought Vicky Vette was hot. After reading this article, she seems a bit hotter.
Like one already wrote,Rapidshare is just the tip of the iceberg.Maybe the other sites aren’t charging money ??? but at Google,there’s 3 full pages of links to get to “Lavatories occupied” videos alone so…
rapidshare takes paypal for fucks sake! I have had numerous paypal accounts frozen and closed and monies siexed for 6 months for selling a signed photo. they have a very strict no adult policy yet they allow this piece of shit company to collect through them in order to sell content that doesn’t belong to them.
I too have sent constant letters to several forums and sites for posting my stolen content. I have had some luck and some just ignore me. I sat with an attorney and was told it would be a very expensive and fruitless waste of time. the hosting is out of country and the companies have so many loop holes protecting them that I would be better off throwing my money into the street.
I wish Vicky all the luck and hope that some of the bigger companies losing millions due to file sharing step up and do something about it rather than what they are doing now…providing tube site owners with clips to post.
An update on Rapidshare for Vicky. While this is in German court, I can only imagine a similar verdict here in the States.
http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-not-liable-for-pirating-users-court-rules-100504/
In the United States couldnt theygo after these file sharing sites for not having 2257 documenttio,Or go after the downloaders for not having these documents. Oh wait, the porn industry is fighting the 2257 rules
I guesss they couldnt fight the regulations on one hand, and demand their enforcement on the other.
I dont know the law here. Doesn anyone know the law regarding 2257 and torrent an tube sites?
Joe Know:
Tube sites are not required to maintain 2257 records because they are “Internet service providers” and not producers/secondary producers–i.e., they just host whatever is uploaded to them. Moreover, a private action for a 2257 violation generally does not exist.
I am glad to know that Nice Girl is so upbeat. “I guarantee it will be dismissed in two months”. Lemme see that law degree. Way to be optimistic.
“Just host whatever is uploaded to them?” I think Napster made that argument.. and lost 20 years ago.
If you really think that some dude is spending all of his time sitting in his basement spending hours and hours of his time uploading my porn for the benefit of the world on Rapidshare and/or to make a back up copy ‘just in case’? … I say bullshit (to quote Penn & Teller). Sure.. some people don’t have anything better to do. Me? I think it is Rapidshare and/or Rapidshare affiliates who upload porn to entice the surfers to buy memberships – kind of like the fake profiles you see on Adultfinder that they themselves put up of hot chicks to get lonely guys to buy dating memberships.
Sacred of losing? You don’t go to Vegas and worry about losing your bet.
Uphill battle? I don’t care. I have a kick ass entertainment attorney. The ball is in his court and he is running with it. If I lose at least I tried and I have zero regret.
German Courts vs. USA Courts: I believe USA judges are far more protective of busty blonde pornstars than German judges. That was a joke. The laws in Germany are very different than here with respect to copyright. We’ll see how it plays out. Part of the reason you file in certain places is to make sure you have a shot of winning… just look at the OJ Simpson case.
If 20 other companies sued it would put pressure on Rapidshare to change the way they allow uploads and run content filters. Lil ol me? They will fight me and try to beat me. Too bad not enough of this industry actually has any balls to do something even though my lawyers are more than willing to accept other clients since they are suing Rapidshare on my behalf anyway.
See you in 5 months Nice Girl.
VickyVettes attempt to protect her property are certainly admirable. But with major studios turning a blind eye to this situation it will be difficult to make any substantial changes. The framework for this form of piracy is already established and has been expanding everyday. Like they say, you cant unring the bell.
MOre and more people are watching porn because of the free sites. But many of the free porn useres would not BUY porn anyway. Some might argue that access to all the free porn may lead to sales of porn by people who would not ordinarily pay for it.
I can see people making the excuse,,,,I would never buy porn, but if its free I will look at it. Is this really a lost “sale” for the porn industry. This same person was never going to pay for it in the first place. YES this is a weak excuse, but it does have some truth to it.
Many,many years ago(before the internet) there was a case in which a person tried to sue a bank becuase someone was hiding stolen money and jewlery in a safed deposit box. The bank was found to be NOT liable. Can the owmers of rapidshare be held liable for the illegal activities of their members? Should be an intersting case.