Parent company Internet Commerce Group Inc. of Phoenix has been "engaged in exploiting unlicensed videos for profit through its operation of three websites" by inducing and encouraging customers to download all or parts of Vivid videos, Vivid said in a release Tuesday.
The sites named in the complaint include FemaleStars.com, ICelebOnline.com and CelebrityHardcore.com.
XBIZ learned Tuesday that the suit centers on material from the videos "Kim Kardashian Superstar," "Faithless" "Karrine Steffans Superhead," "Vince Neil & Janine — Hardcore" and "The Jimi Hendrix Sex Tape." Those tapes all have been given copyrights, Vivid said.
Three other videos, with copyrights pending, also were cited by Vivid. Those films include "Jessica Sierra Superstar," "Kendra Exposed" and "Montana Fishbourne."
Vivid contends that CelebrityCash operators had been making the material available to the three paysite member sites for downloading and viewing.
"[P]ossibly other websites [may be available on its sites], but Vivid has not yet discovered such additional copyright infringement," Vivid said in the suit.
ICG did not respond to XBIZ questions relative to the suit on Tuesday, but Vivid Entertainment co-chairman Steven Hirsch said that he's determined to take legal action against pirated content
"This is the first of many lawsuits we are prepared to file and we expect to prevail in all of them," he said. "We spend millions of dollars to promote our content and we're not going to let illegal users profit at our expense."
