Titan Vice President Keith Webb told XBIZ that the studio decided to remove its content from NakedSword after the company announced its revenue-sharing agreement earlier this year.
Webb said the merger presented a conflict of interest given Titan’s lawsuit against AEBN.
We simply could not be selling our content through a company that we were currently litigating against,” Webb said. “[It was] nothing personal, just business.”
In September, Titan filed a lawsuit against Charlotte, N.C.-based AEBN over PornoTube.com, charging that the VOD provider’s YouTube-styled site was infringing on Titan’s copyrighted works.
The complaint filed against AEBN charges that multiple Titan films illegally appeared on the PornoTube website, including “110 Degrees in Tucson,” “Fallen Angel III,” “Seamen: Fallen Angel IV” and “Slammer.” According to court papers, Titan employees documented 61,000 unauthorized viewings of the company’s content.
According to Webb, depositions in the case are scheduled to start in several weeks, with a trial date for later this year.
Webb said Titan would continue to distribute its VOD content, which accounted for 25 percent of the studio’s 2006 income, through TitanMen.com. Titan VOD content also is available TLAonDemand.com, GayHotMovies.com, GameLink’s Manshop.com, Maleflixxx.tv and Entice.tv.
NakedSword owner Tim Valenti told XBIZ he knew about the dispute between Titan and AEBN over PornoTube.
"We understand their concerns with PornoTube, but we disagree," Valenti said. "Titan was our first major studio, and we've always had a great relationship with them. On the AEBN side, they've made clear that they want us to continue that relationship, but for now there will be a break. We're going to try and come to a resoluton on this in the future. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail."
Officials at AEBN could not be reached at time of press.
