Ventura Content, parent company of Pink Visual, this week reached a settlement with AFIC, Inc., operators of tubesite Slutload.com, in a copyright infringement suit filed in December. One of the conditions of the settlement requires Slutload.com to participate in Free Speech Coalition’s Anti-Piracy Action Program (FSC-APAP), bringing the total number of participating tubesites to twelve.
“Slutload.com is a significant addition to our program,” FSC Executive Director Diane Duke said. “Special thanks go out to Pink Visual for the work they have done to combat piracy and for endorsing FSC-APAP through their actions.”
Slutload.com will begin utilizing FSC-APAP’s Mediawise technology in order to comply with the terms of the settlement. The list of tubesites already using Mediawise includes ExtremeTube.com, KeezMovies.com, PornHub.com, SpankWire.com, Tube8.com, Xtube.com, Xvideos.com, XNXX.com, TNAflix.com, Empflix.com, and XHamster.com.
Mediawise technology allows fingerprinted digital content to be detected by the tubesites, prior to being uploaded. At that point, APAP tubesite operators prevent the illegal content from being posted and, instead, post an approved trailer or truncated version of the scene. Users who view the content are offered an option to purchase the original content and a link to the content producer’s retail website. If a purchase is made, this effectively creates a rev-share affiliation for the tube site and the content producer, and a new stream of revenue for both parties.
“The tubesites are completing the process of fingerprinting their back catalogs and almost all of the studios have fingerprinted their entire libraries. Weekly we have studios and tubesites approaching us to join our program,” Duke explained. “Because of this industry-wide coordinated effort, 2011 promises to be the year the adult industry started to make a significant impact in the fight against piracy.”
FSC-APAP also partnered with content protection firm Porn Guardian in February. At the end of March, Porn Guardian succeeded in stopping an Atlanta-based bootlegger from selling illegally replicated copies of adult DVDs on online retail website EBay.
“Copyrighted full-length feature films from several major studios were being offered,” said Porn Guardian partner Peter Phinney. “Hothouse Entertainment first found the listings and brought them to our attention. We did some due diligence to verify that this was not an authorized reseller; then, we registered almost 30 complaints with eBay on behalf of Hot House, Raging Stallion Studios, Falcon, Lucas Entertainment, and Channel 1 Releasing.”
The seller packed up his operation and fled as soon as he was notified of the first complaint via email. His eBay Profile now reads, “no longer a registered user,” and “this seller currently has no items for sale.” It is estimated that this pirate, who was located in Lawrenceville, GA, had sold almost 1,000 bootleg DVD’s from his electronic storefront.
“We’re overjoyed with this result,” Hot House Entertainment President Steven Scarborough said. “Thanks Porn Guardian and thanks eBay for taking this guy out.”
Content providers currently participating in the FSC-APAP program include Wicked Pictures, Girlfriends Films, Adam and Eve, Hustler/LFP, New Sensations, Digital Playground, AEBN, Vince Voyeur, Severe Society Films, Titan Media, Channel 1 Releasing, Bel Ami, Hot House Entertainment, Kristen Bjorn Productions, Raging Stallion Studios, Falcon Studios, Hot Desert Knights, Factory Video, Corbin Fisher, Bear Films, Pacific Sun Entertainment, Treasure Island Media, and OCCash.
“With Vobile’s Mediawise technology addressing the tubesites, and Porn Guardian’s program addressing P2P, cyberlockers and Torrents, FSC-APAP is a truly comprehensive, industry-wide approach to fighting piracy,” said Duke.
For more information about the FSC’s Anti-Piracy Action Program, please contact (818) 348-9373 or diane@freespeechcoalition.com, or please visit FSCAPAP.com.
(Illustration: The Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard, 1718, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1920)
