Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010    Text size: 

The websites at issue in Pink Visual’s $6.75 million complaint include KeezMovies.com, PornHub.com, ExtremeTube.com and Tube8.com, all owned by Canadian companies Mansef Inc. and Interhub, whose officers operate both companies.

Pink Visual’s complaint alleges that the defendants are not only aware of infringing content being uploaded to their sites, but that they “actively engage in, promote and induce this infringement.”

The suit, filed at U.S. District Court in New York, exposes just how dominant the tube sites have become, particularly for Mansef and Interhub.

“Using the leverage of the Internet, defendants and others like them appropriate the value of ... adult video content on a massive scale for their own benefit by operating websites known as tube sites that allow users to view and download a vast library of infringing adult video content for free,” Pink Visual’s complaint said.

“[T]he emergence of these tube sites operated by defendants and others threatens not just [Pink Visual], but the entire adult entertainment industry.”

Among Pink Visual’s findings included in the suit are that:

• PornHub.com ranks among the top 50 websites in the world and is among the top 35 sites in the U.S.;

• Tube8.com ranks among the top 80 sites in the world and in the U.S. in terms of the number of visitors;

• ExtremeTube.com is among the top 1,000 sites in the U.S. and the world; and,

• KeezMovies.com over the past six months has catapulted its ranking to one of the top 200 most-popular sites in the world in terms of visitors.

Representing Pink Visual’s holding company (Ventura Content) in the case is the New York law office Jenner and Block, the same firm that represented copyright owners in their successful actions against Grokster, TorrentSpy and Usenet.com, among others.

“We are extremely confident in the legal theory and supporting arguments that have been constructed by our legal team, and we believe our case is very strong,” Pink Visual CEO Allison Vivas said in a statement.

Quentin B, Pink Visual’s spokesman, said that the four sites evidently include content from an array of other companies.

“Without knowing who might have licensed their content to these sites, it is hard to speculate about how much of the content is infringing, but at a glance and based on the public statements of many other producers, it does appear that these tubes are filled with infringing content,” he told XBIZ. “The nature of the Internet being what it is, it's really incumbent upon producers and rights holders to proactively protect their intellectual property.”

Pink Visual is seeking statutory and actual damages, punitive damages, attorneys fees and injunctive relief.

XBIZ calls to Mansef and related companies went unreturned by post time.