Strike 3 Holdings LLC, which includes noteworthy websites and brands Vixen, Tushy, Blacked and Blacked Raw, has filed a dozen lawsuits in federal court in Sacramento, CA. The suits, filed on April 24, seek damages against individuals in Citrus Heights, Carmichael and other areas in the region.
According to a report from The Sacramento Bee, the LLC claims to be the victim of widespread copyright infringement via its websites, which draw over 20 million visitors every month.
The lawsuits target “John Doe” internet subscribers identified only by their internet protocol addresses and seek penalties against individuals suspected of using BitTorrent sites — things like ThePirateBay — to connect to other computers and “simultaneously download and upload piece of the file from and to other users.”
“[The] defendant is, in a word, stealing these works on a grand scale,” the lawsuits claim. “Using the BitTorrent protocol, defendant is committing rampant and wholesale copyright infringement by downloading Strike 3’s motion pictures as well as distributing them to others.”
In one of the lawsuits filed in Sacramento, Strike 3 Holdings claims an unknown internet user in Roseville took copyrighted films from its websites 83 times in recent months.
“Strike 3’s subscription-based websites proudly boast a paid subscriber base that is one of the highest of any adult-content sites in the world …,” the lawsuits say. “Strike 3’s motion pictures and websites have won numerous awards, such as ‘best cinematography,’ ‘best new studio,’ and ‘adult site of the year.’ One of Strike 3’s owners, three-time director of the year Greg Lansky, has been dubbed the adult film industry’s ‘answer to Steven Spielberg.’”
The company said its success have “had positive global impact, leading more adult studios to invest in better content, higher pay for performers and to treat each performer with respect and like an artist.”
Like a large number of other makers of motion picture and television works, including those in the adult industry, Strike 3 has a major problem with internet piracy. As a result, Strike 3 Holdings has begun filing lawsuits in federal courts across the nation. According to The Sacramento Bee, the electronic database for federal court filings lists 744 cases involving the company.
Those with time in the adult industry can certainly recall another time when “end user litigation” was all the rage. One can only hope litigators are approaching this round of lawsuits differently — and are using more ethical attorneys to pursue them.
Takedown Piracy’s Nate Glass commented, “While I support any artist or producer protecting their creation, end-user litigation like this cannot be your only method in the fight against piracy. Torrent usage is at its lowest point traffic-wise in 2018. These days if you aren’t utilizing digital fingerprinting technology to counter streaming video sites then you are missing out on the biggest segment of piracy.”
