Kaytel proffered a final offer to settle out of court and avoid a trial July 24, which Evil Angel rejected. Following the rejection, a jury was empanelled and the trial commenced on July 26.
“The numbers came close, but ultimately we rejected their offer,” Evil Angel General Manager Chris Norman told XBIZ. “We felt we were well positioned for a trial, so everyone went back to their corners to get ready for litigation.”
Evil Angel finishes arguments Thursday and then Kaytel has four days to counter. Norman expects jury deliberations to begin Aug. 9.
“For all intents and purposes, things appear to be going our way at the moment,” Norman said. “It’s early yet, but the case is in the hands of a judge and jury now. We feel a lot more comfortable now than we were going into it. We thought we’d be singled out as an adult company that is not deserving of sympathy — that has certainly not transpired, which we are grateful for.”
Norman said that Evil Angel has offered witness testimony and paperwork, including receipts and office documents to help prove its case.
“Case-wise I think we’re 100 percent solid,” Norman said. “We’ve got all our ducks in a row. Unfortunately, one of the things were up against in proving is that there are a lot of people in the middle of this puzzle who participated in replicating, in brokering the replication, in finding mastering companies that would participate in this. There are a lot of unsavory men involved.”
Norman said that Kaytel never purchased DVDs directly from Evil Angel and alleges Kaytel purchased legitimate DVDs from a wholesaler and made glass masters from the copies, which they then sent to be replicated illegally.
The directors whose movies were most heavily exploited are Jules Jordan, Rocco Siffredi, John Stagliano, John Leslie and Joey Silvera. The rest of Evil Angel’s directing roster was not involved in this case.
Evil Angel uncovered the piracy ring in late-2004/early-2005 after East Coast distributors reported knocked off copies of Evil Angel DVDs. At first, the company didn’t take much stock in the allegations, reasoning that they were started by a distributor looking to get a better price from the company. Evil Angel did some research and discovered the rumors were legitimate.
“The returns started to come back in large numbers and consumers contacted us to report of a drop in picture quality,” Norman said. “We thought maybe we were dropping the ball here in-house. We got the DVDs back and said ‘Wait a minute, these aren’t even our DVDs.’ The illegal copies were on DVD-5 and our legit movies are made on DVD-9.”
The case is being presided over by U.S. District Court Judge James Otero in Los Angeles. Evil Angel is being represented by Allan Gelbard and Sean Macias is representing Jules Jordan.
A call to Kaytel was not immediately returned.
