U.S. District Judge James Otero will issue his final rulings regarding the admission of certain pieces of evidence and deliberations will commence immediately thereafter. Both sides are due back in the courtroom at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
“We’re hoping that we presented enough evidence and made a compelling enough argument so that it’s not a difficult decision,” Evil Angel publicist Karen Stagliano told XBIZ. “We made a strong case and now we’ll have to see what the jury thinks.”
Stagliano said that the jury received their final instructions from Otero today.
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.
Evil Angel General Manager Chris 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.
Andrew Blake’s wife attended today’s proceedings in a show of support for Evil Angel. Blake’s Studio A Entertainment is engaged in similar piracy and copyright infringement litigation with Kaytel.
