MIAMI — Hush Hush Entertainment has apparently settled copyright infringement claims it brought up last year against adult entertainment conglomerate MindGeek.
The legal feud between the companies got underway last summer, with Hush Hush filing suit against MindGeek in October, alleging it turned a blind eye or encouraged copyright infringement after it found 47 instances of its content on PornHubPremium.com.
On Friday, both parties asked a federal judge in Miami for a voluntary dismissal of the entire complaint in the civil action. A federal judge has yet to sign off on Friday’s voluntary dismissal stipulation.
The filing did not disclose terms of the apparent settlement, but the parties would bear their own attorneys fees.
In its original complaint, Hush Hush, which operates “mega-pass” membership sitesHushPass.com and InterracialPass.com, said it found the separate copyright registered works over 304 separate and distinct URLs on PornHubPremium.com.
Hush Hush noted in the suit that because PornHubPremium.com launched in August, the infringing porn uploads predate the development of the monthly subscription site and weren’t transmitted by members.
“These [infringing] works are purported by defendants to have been uploaded by third-party Internet users,” the suit said. “However, since the uploads predate the development of PornHubPremium.com, they clearly could not have been uploaded to the PornHubPremium.com website by such third parties.”
In the suit, Hush Hush further said that MindGeek is “well aware of the massive infringement occurring on PornHubPremium.com.”
Hush Hush’s suit sought statutory damages of $150,000 for each of the 47 acts of alleged infringement, along with an injunction, attorneys fees and a transfer of the domain name PornHubPremium.com.
Hush Hush’s suit named the various MindGeek properties as defendants, as well as executive Feras Antoon.
MindGeek officials did not respond by XBIZ post time for questions surrounding the apparent settlement deal. Hush Hush counsel Brooks Miller declined comment to XBIZ.
