MPAA Files Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Porn Piracy Case

CHICAGO — Hollywood has sided with Flava Works in the gay porn company's appeal supporting a preliminary injunction issued against MyVidster.com, which allegedly poached and streamed its content.

On Thursday, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) submitted a friend-of-the-court brief, supporting Flava Works in the long-running copyright infringement case.

MyVidster, operated by Marques Rondale Gunter, is a user-generated tube site that had been fingered by Flava Works for copyright violations.

Flava Works, which has been in business since 1999, offers content featuring black and Latino talent on a number of sites, including Cocodorm.com, PapiCock.com, ThugBoy.com, CocoBoyz.com FlavaMen.com and Thugsforsex.com.

A lower court last year held that Flava Works would likely succeed on copyright violation claims that MyVidster was secondarily liable for the direct infringement. But the case went to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after Gunter appealed an injunction.

Through the appeal, several companies and organizations have also filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case — in support of Gunter. Google, Facebook, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have all thrown their hats into the ring.

But the MPAA has sided with Flava Works, saying that MyVidster’s conduct in the case did not provide for safe harbors for providing digital storage space and information location tools.

"After receiving repeated notices about the infringing embedded videos on its service, MyVidster ignored the wrongful conduct instead of attempting to rid its service of bad actors," the MPAA said in the brief. "MyVidster initially refused to remove specific infringing links."

The MPAA continued in its brief that taking steps to thwart illegal conduct does not undermine technological progress or free speech. On the contrary, such steps facilitate those laudable objectives, it said.

Flava Works CEO Phillip Bleicher told XBIZ that the case is simple — "Marques Gunter used his website MyVidster.com as a vehicle to commit and contribute to massive amounts of theft."

"MyVidster is not just stealing our content, but dozens of small- and medium-sized porn companies (and individual amateurs) who may not be in a position to hire an attorney to stop sites like this from popping up," he said.

"For instance, we had a small home-based company contact us for help in writing a DMCA notice to MyVidster," he said. "They found over three dozen videos on MyVidster that belonged to this guy. When he contacted MyVidster, their response was 'MyVidster is a bookmarking site and not a video host'  — which is bullshit."

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Michigan Legislators Propose Online Porn Ban

Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it illegal to distribute pornography via the internet in the state.

Florida AG Sues Aylo, Segpay Over State AV Law

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed lawsuits against Aylo and Segpay today with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida for noncompliance with HB3, the state's age verification law.

Colombian Court Sides with Esperanza Goméz in Meta Account Deactivation Battle

On Friday, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled in favor of adult performer Esperanza Gómez in her legal battle against Meta over repeated suspensions of her Instagram account.

Missouri AG Announces Age Verification Rule to Take Effect Nov. 30

Newly appointed Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced Friday that the state's recently approved age verification regulation for adult websites will go into effect on Nov. 30.

Aylo, Woodhull Freedom Foundation to Host 'Online Censorship' Event

Aylo and Woodhull Freedom Foundation will co-host a virtual panel addressing online censorship on Sept. 30.

Severe Sex Films Relaunches Site Through YourPaysitePartner

Severe Sex Films has relaunched its official website through YourPaysitePartner (YPP).

Judge Awards Plaintiffs Over $400K in Attorneys Fees in Derek Hay Civil Case

California Superior Court Judge Gail Killefer has awarded former clients of LA Direct Models over $400,000 in attorneys fees and court costs, to be paid by agency founder Derek Hay.

ChickPass Rebrands as 'ChickPass Cinematic Universe'

ChickPass has announced that it has rebranded its network of sites as ChickPass Cinematic Universe.

Brazilian Adult Industry Association ABIPEA Launches

Brazilian Association of the Adult Entertainment Industry and Professionals (ABIPEA) has officially launched its organization.

New Adult Social Media Platform 'Havven' Opens Beta Phase

Havven, a new adult social media platform, has opened its beta phase and will officially launch Oct. 5.

Show More