Tube Site Operator Must Pay $990K, Judge Says

PHOENIX — A federal court today gave Corbin Fisher the green light to collect on a $990,000 default judgment against the operator of tube site ViniGay.com, once billed as "No. 1 in Brazil for gay porn videos."

In a 42-page ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson addressed a number of argumentative issues in the copyright infringement case, including personal jurisdiction and extraterritorial copyright infringement immunity.

The defendants in the case, Brazil resident Gustavo Paladeski, another defendant and his company, were sued after Corbin Fisher found three copies of its movies shared on ViniGay.com — "Cory Fucks Lucas," "Cory Fucks Dawson" and "Cain Fucks Travis." Paladeski never responded to Corbin Fisher's claims.

In his ruling, Anderson said that the court had jurisdiction in the case because Paladeski signed up Wild West Domain as ViniGay's domain name registrar, consenting to terms in the contract that linked personal jurisdiction to Maricopa County in Arizona, where the case was filed.

The judge, however, dismissed claims against the company ViniGay.com and another defendant, ruling that the court did not have jurisdiction over them.

But Anderson put Paladeski on the line, ruling that he didn't have extraterritorial infringement immunity, concluding that "defendant's acts of direct infringement ... constitute acts of infringement that are not wholly extraterritorial to the U.S."

Anderson, in his ruling, granted the award and a permanent injunction against Paladeski from infringing on Corbin Fisher's works, plus attorneys fees of $16,000. He also ordered an impoundment of all infringing works in Paladeski's possession.

Attorney Marc Randazza, who represents Corbin Fisher, said that the judge took great interest in deciding the case.

"You can see how careful he analyzed how much damages were in the case," Randazza told XBIZ. "In this case he ruled for actual damages against the defendant.

"I think we are finding courts are not averse awarding actual damages in cases of pirated adult content."

Randazza said, however, collecting on the $990,000 award against a Brazilian living abroad could be difficult. "It is clearly going to be a challenge," he said.