SAN DIEGO — Gay filmmaker Sean Cody's company has filed two porn BitTorrent lawsuits, charging that several collectives shared “Brandon & Pierce Unwrapped” online.
The pair of suits, both filed at U.S. District Court in San Diego, were the only porn BitTorrent suits filed in the past seven days at U.S. federal courts. (XBIZ publishes weekly reports each Thursday on porn BitTorrent cases.)
With the alleged trading of “Brandon & Pierce Unwrapped,” Cody's parent company, 808 Holdings LLC, says that two swarms republished and duplicated pirated content on two occasions — Dec. 28 and Dec. 29 — on BitTorrent networks. The two suits finger 122 alleged traders.
"[A]ll defendants replicated and shared with each other the precise and exact same file and portions thereof in a completely interconnected and collective effort — dependent on one another to achieve their nefarious ends — to deprive plaintiff of the exclusive rights afforded to it via the Copyright Act," the suit said.
“Brandon & Pierce Unwrapped," distributed last year, is Cody's first bareback movie. It is the first time his company has waged federal copyright claims.
Cody's 808 Holdings operates Cody Media and SeanCody.com, his namesake site where he offers videos featuring interaction with under 30, muscular men talking about themselves and engaging in sex. The men are straight, gay, and bisexual.
Each of the suits ask federal judges to order ISPs to disclose user identities of the unnamed John Doe defendants and claim infringement damages of up to the statutory maximum of $150,000 per Doe.
Cody did not immediately respond to XBIZ for comment.
