Vivid Wins 1st Round Over ‘Throat’ but Breach-of-Contract Suit Continues

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe rejected an argument by Arrow Productions principal Ray Pistol that Arrow would be damaged irreparably if Vivid released its version of the famous Linda Lovelace film.

Arrow Productions was seeking a temporary restraining order that would have barred Vivid from distributing the movie, which stars Sasha Grey and is directed Paul Thomas, both of whom also are pivotal characters in the Showtime series about the remake produced by World of Wonder.

The suit, however, is not over, XBIZ learned Monday.

Gary Kaufman of the Kaufman Law told XBIZ that the breach-of-contract suit at Los Angeles Superior Court continues.

“While the judge did find that Arrow would not be irreparably harmed by ‘Throat’s release, he also opened the door for Arrow to pursue significant monetary damages from Vivid,” Kaufman told XBIZ. “This is a blatant breach of contract and we are confident that we will prevail on the merits.”

Vivid's Steven Hirsch said he was pleased with the ruling that allows his company to continue the release of the movie slated for March 18.

"Ray Pistol's attorneys spent a full half hour before the judge trying to make their case, but he essentially told Arrow they can't stop this movie from being released,” Hirsch, the cofounder, said.

Arrow, which is the owner of the “Deep Throat” franchise, claimed Vivid prematurely screened scenes from the new Showtime reality show, "Deeper Throat," at AEE in January, which is based upon its remake of "Deep Throat," the Linda Lovelace movie produced in 1972 that is the highest-grossing porn film of all time.

Vivid planned to release the remake in March under the title, "Throat: A Cautionary Tale."

Vivid was supposed to submit an “exclusive first-look” copy of the finished movie to Arrow before showing it to anyone else, according to the suit. But Arrow never received the copy, it claimed.

Arrow claimed the contract gives it 10 days to decide whether to release the film, and gave Arrow the option to buy the rights to the remake.

Arrow said Vivid's breach also fouled up the parties' reality TV show about the remake, produced by World of Wonder and is currently airing on Showtime.

Arrow, Vivid and World of Wonder Productions struck a licensing deal in January 2008 over several production ideas spurred from the companies’ involvement in remaking the legendary adult film.