Zero Tolerance, along with sister companies Third Degree Films and Black Ice Ltd., is alleging Movixo violated copyright laws by illegally pirating 172 of its titles. Zero Tolerance President Greg Alves is seeking $150,000 per bootlegged title, the maximum penalty allowable for willful copyright infringement.
“We received complaints from customers that they were receiving bootlegged copies of our movies from Movixo.com,” Alves told XBIZ. “We’ve built up a great deal of customer loyalty, so its unfortunate people were looking at inferior product thinking it came from us.
“We’ve seen pirated discs on eBay before, but those were small-time guys. Once we saw this, we knew Movixo was in a different league. They did not purchase our titles directly from us.”
Alves said the company placed direct rental orders from Movixo.com to investigate its customer’s complaints and received what it claims to be illegally copied discs without original artwork or standard Zero Tolerance packaging.
While Movixo operates both a sales and rental business, Alves said the pirated discs came from the rental side.
Attorney Clyde DeWitt, who is representing Zero Tolerance in its lawsuit, believes it will be a protracted battle for Zero Tolerance Entertainment vs. Movixo Inc. to wend its way through the courts.
“This is a significant lawsuit,” DeWitt told XBIZ. “The defendant has 20 days from the date of service to respond to the suit. A discovery process for both parties to obtain records from each other follows. We anticipate Movixo to investigate Zero Tolerance’s copyrights. These are just the initial steps.”
Alves said he is committed to seeing this case through until the end.
“We’re not expecting this to be solved immediately,” Alves said. “We are on the manhunt for copyright infringement and expect to make 4-5 additional announcements in the coming months. We have no intention of settling.”
“Copyright infringement is damaging because Zero Tolerance doesn’t want the value of its product diminished by inferior, illegal products,” DeWitt said. “People are under the impression they are buying Zero Tolerance product so they get the wrong idea about the studio’s quality. Illegal pirating is a rampant problem in the adult industry.”
The case number for Zero Tolerance Entertainment vs. Movixo, Inc. is 06-CV-60917.
