9th Circuit: Perfect 10 Must Pay $5.64M in Attorneys' Fees

9th Circuit: Perfect 10 Must Pay $5.64M in Attorneys' Fees

SAN FRANCISCO — The owner of Perfect 10 said that he’ll seek a rehearing of today's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding an award of $5.64 million in attorneys’ fees and costs to defendants Giganews and Livewire, which were originally fingered for infringing on the adult brand’s copyrights.

In the case previously argued at Los Angeles federal court, Perfect 10 claimed it was damaged by the transmission of thousands of its adult images that went through Giganews' and Livewire’s servers. After sending takedown notices that didn’t prove effective, Perfect 10 filed a lawsuit, only to have the validity of its takedown notices challenged.

A federal judge issued a series of decisions against Perfect 10, culminating in an order that Perfect 10 pay Giganews and Livewire’s millions in attorneys’ fees and costs.

Perfect 10 appealed the lower court's findings to the 9th Circuit, which rendered its decision today.

Norm Zada, who has operated Perfect 10 since 1996, said that he believes the 9th Circuit’s ruling is contrary to prior decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts regarding such “basic issues” as direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement. 

“This award destroys whatever was left of Perfect 10, a legitimate copyright holder that has been in business for 20 years,” Zada told XBIZ.

Zada said that Perfect 10 intends to file a petition for rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc with the 9th Circuit in an attempt to overturn the ruling of the appeals court’s three-judge panel. 

The appeals panel focused on whether the district court had properly decided that Perfect 10 had to show "volitional conduct" on its direct infringement claim against Giganews and Livewire, which allegedly displayed images and thumbnails via Mimo readers.

"The sole evidence Perfect 10 points to in support of its argument that Giganews was not merely a passive host shows only that images and thumbnails were accessed through the Giganews platform," she writes. "The evidence does not demonstrate that Giganews — as opposed to the user who called up the images — caused the images to be displayed.

"Perfect 10 failed to show that the distribution does not happen automatically. Indeed, an analysis of Perfect 10’s evidence shows only that users uploaded infringing content onto Giganews servers, not that Giganews played any sort of active role in causing the distribution."

Zada said that with today’s decision, the 9th Circuit’s ruling immunizes copyright piracy on a massive scale.

“Giganews’ servers contain approximately 25,000 terabytes of copyrighted materials, including almost every imaginable movie, song, TV show, game and image, which it offers to subscribers without permission of the copyright owners,” Zada said. “The 9th Circuit's ruling will now allow anyone to set his or her computer to automatically copy all of that infringing content from Giganews’ servers, and then sell access to that content, without payment to copyright holders.

“This unprecedented ruling will have a profoundly negative impact on legitimate businesses, such as Apple iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and others, that pay copyright owners for the use of their works, as well as movie studios, recording studios, and other copyright holders.”

The 9th Circuit affirmed the lower court ruling; however it also ruled in the case that Giganews and Livewire can’t add Zada to judgment.

According to Zada, Perfect 10, which started in 1996, was intended to be a high-quality version of Playboy.

He said that Perfect 10 invested more than $53 million to create and develop its brand, but it stopped publishing its magazine in 2007 because of “rampant copyright infringement.” Its website, Perfect10.com, is still in operation.

View today's decision

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

Ofcom Investigates 4 More Adult Companies for OSA Compliance

U.K. media regulator Ofcom has launched investigations into whether four companies operating adult websites have implemented requisite age assurance measures under the Online Safety Act, the agency announced Thursday.

Taylor Nicole Launches New Site Through YourPaysitePartner

Creator Taylor Nicole has launched her new official website through YourPaysitePartner (YPP).

Adult Networking Platform SpicyGigs.com Launches

SpicyGigs, a new adult industry networking platform, has officially launched.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Cream Pie Challenge' Fundraiser

Pineapple Support is hosting its Cream Pie Challenge through August to raise funds for mental health services for industry performers.

Kyrgyzstan President Signs Measure Outlawing Internet Porn

President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday signed into law legislation outlawing online adult content in the country.

NC Legislature Overrides Veto of Extreme Anti-Adult Industry Bill

The North Carolina state legislature on Tuesday voted to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of a bill imposing regulations that industry observers have warned could push adult websites and platforms to ban most creators and content.

Report: VPN Downloads Soar in UK Following Age Verification Deadline

Virtual private network apps, which can be used to circumvent geo-specific age verification requirements, are topping Apple App Store downloads in the U.K. in the wake of new Online Safety Act rules, the BBC is reporting.

Strike 3 Holdings Sues Meta for Pirating Vixen Media Group Content to Train AI

Vixen Media Group owner Strike 3 Holdings filed suit in federal court this week, accusing Facebook parent company Meta of copyright infringement and alleging that Meta has extensively pirated VMG content to train its artificial intelligence models.

Pineapple Support, Streamate to Host 'Navigating Grief and Loss' Support Group

Pineapple Support and Streamate are hosting a free online support group to help performers cope with grief and loss.

Friday is Final AV Compliance Deadline in UK

Friday, July 25 marks U.K. media regulator Ofcom’s deadline for user-to-user services such as tube, cam and fan sites to implement its requisite “highly effective age assurance” measures for preventing minors from viewing adult content.

Show More