LAS VEGAS — Corbin Fisher is challenging Oron's need for the release of $375,000 in frozen company funds, saying there is "stark absence" of details in the request.
"Defendants have fallen far short of their burden to establish the need and propriety for the court to release funds for their legal and business expenses," Corbin Fisher counsel said today in opposition to Oron's emergency motion.
Oron attorneys, in defense of Corbin Fisher's $34.8 million copyright infringement suit, today asked a federal judge to partially lift a temporary restraining order so that it can transfer $375,000 to a trust fund. The $375,000, which would come from its PayPal account, would be used for legal fees and business expenses to keep the file-trading site afloat.
Corbin Fisher attorneys, wasting no time, filed its opposition to the request, saying that Oron's emergency motion to release the funds is fatally flawed because it lacks specific information including attorneys fees or stated business costs and that the court should reject it.
Corbin Fisher called the request "impermissibly vague and cloaked in the unmistakable aroma of fraud."
"In order for this court to engage in adequate analysis of what funds (if any) are to be released from the injunction, the defendant must provide the court a full accounting of its assets — including its incoming revenue," an opposition to the motion said. "Oron’s request for a release of $375,000 must be denied unless it provides a complete and full accounting of its assets are made to the court."
Corbin Fisher also said it is unreasonable for Oron to demand the withdrawal when, according to Oron’s counsel, the amount is purportedly very close to Oron’s value as a going concern.
"Specifically, Oron’s counsel represented that a settlement demand of $500,000 was 'an unreasonable amount' to the defendants and 'more than the company itself was worth' in previous discussions," the opposition said. "In this situation, the court is justified in exercising its discretion to deny Oron’s request, as allowing it to withdraw $375,000 would, by the defendants’ own admission, nearly completely dissipate – if not eliminate altogether – the funds available to compensate [Corbin Fisher] for its losses."
In its opposition to Oron's emergency motion, Corbin Fisher counsel said Oron’s funds are all the proceeds of an illegal enterprise containing child pornography and that they intend to present evidence to support the claim.
"[Corbin Fisher] intends to present a witness who can testify to the fact that Oron.com, with its promises of anonymity for its users, is a repository for child pornography, as well as infringing content," the latest filing said.
"[Oron] owns and operates indexes of this material on ForumOphilia.com and PornBB.org. Accordingly, Oron has filled its coffers with at least $5 million in ill-gotten gains derived from monetizing wholesale copyright infringement and the distribution of illegal child pornography."
Corbin Fisher last week sued Oron and other defendants, alleging they had knowledge of and induced the trading of pirated porn on its site.
Shortly after the suit was filed, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro ordered Oron's bank accounts frozen until a July 3 hearing.
PayPal, AlertPay and CCBill were ordered to freeze Oron accounts; VeriSign also was ordered to freeze the Oron.com domain name from any transfers.
In addition, Navarro ordered Oron to preserve and restore financial documents key to the case.
At the same time, Corbin Fisher served Oron in Hong Kong with an injunction prohibiting disposal of assets in Hong Kong.
In the Hong Kong order, Oron operators were enjoined from disposing or diminishing in value of its assets up to $3 million.
