Titan Media and parent company IO Group Inc., one of the largest producers of gay adult content, videos and photographs, filed suit against Metropole and the two other defendants in 2004 for publishing more than 764 copyrighted photos belonging to Titan on subscription website Rainbow_Zone.com.
According to legal documents filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Calif., the photos were removed by Metropole after receiving a cease-and-desist, but then Titan discovered 64 additional photos were published on the same site without authorization.
The judgment awarded to Titan/IO is based on a $750 penalty per infringed photograph.
In lieu of unrecovered payment, a judge has ordered that Titan Media can seize and auction off a list of domain names belonging to Metropole, Easy Planet and Rainbow Zones.
Under the terms of the seizure, Titan Media will sell off the following domains belonging to the defendants: Rainbow-Zone.com, Planet-Fetish.com, Planet-Bears.com, Planet-Gaysex.com, Planet-Muscle.com, Planet-Uniform.com, Planet-Black.com, Gay-Bareback.net, Dirty-Worlds.com and any other domain name in which Metropole, Easy Planet or Rainbow Zone have rights or possessory interests.
According to legal documents obtained by XBiz, the auction will take place on April 19 at Afternic.com.
