Advice needed re: stealing content
 

I am a babe in the woods here and hoping that webmasters can advise me what to do. I own 44 titles that are distributed on dvd by Platinum X. Licensing deals were made with respect to european distribution by which Platinum X in North America acted as agent and gave dvd distribution rights to Platinum X Europe for a fee. Long story short, Platinum X Europe is now granting licenses of my product to www.adultlicenses.com and I'm screwed.

I've sent the following to the guys at www.adultlicenses.com:
Hi,
My name is Brandon Iron and I own 44 titles that are
> distributed on dvd by Platinum X. I am the custodian
> of records and the copyright holder.
>
> I did not authorize anyone to re-sell or re-license my
> content and I would ask you to remove my titles from
> your site, www.adultlicenses.com immediately.
>
> Cal Vista and Platinum X Europe do not have the right
> to represent me in this capacity, either. Those
> titles are mine. I paid for them and it is not right
> to take my content from me.
>
> Please contact me at your earliest convenience.
> Thanks,
> Brandon
> www.brandoniron.com

Their reply was:
I am sorry but we have a deal with Platinum X Europe, and we are not
removing the content. You are welcome to sue us, we will not remove the

content, PERIOD.


My question is: What do you do? Are there lawyers who help you for a flat fee or on some sort of contingency basis?
I've invested everything I've ever had into my movies and this kills me to have this happen.

Has something similar happened to anyone here?
What is the reputation of the people at www.adultlicenses.com?

Thanks for your time,
Brandon

Wish you the best man however you must lawyer up, double check your original licensee agreements then go after the two companies you feel are infringing on your rights. Good news is they seems to be in countries that you can enforce, bad news is that it will not come cheaply.

Terrible situation as they re-license to webmasters who then use it themselves. Perhaps you may wish to post all of your titles and let the webmasters know. Just make damn sure you did not leave a legal loophole in your original agreement that allowed this to happen first or word your warning carefully.

hey brandon - consult a lawyer - you won't find solid legal advice anywhere for free.

That's the problem. I don't even have access to any of the sub-licence agreements that purportedly grant the rights that are in dispute. Can you somehow compel someone who is selling your content to produce the agreement? If so, how? If not, do I have to hire a lawyer to protect what I know is mine?

I have already asked www.adultlicenses.com to produce the agreement. So far, nothing. I have already asked Astrit Hashani at Platinum X Europe to produce the agreement. So far, nothing. I have asked Cal Vista, the North American broker of foreign rights for Platinum X to produce the agreement and was informed that they could not do this as I was not a signatory to the agreement. Platinum X acted as my agent on my behalf and now I am screwed.

Does this happen often?
Am I being unreasonable?
It is hundreds of thousands I've invested in my stuff and never borrowed a dime.

Thanks, Red!

I would be concerned you were screwed at jump street when you made the original company your agent.

I knew this was going on - when that company started posting on GFY I asked them if just because they had aquired European distribution rights did it give them the rights to license the DVD's as web content worldwide.

Adult video distribution is one of the shadiest businesses on the planet and I knew when DVDs started being licensed that it was going to be another clusterfuck for producers.

Sorry. I did not communicate well. I did not make Platinum X my agent. I am the producer. They are the distributor. They did what they needed to do to build the business. The current owner of Platinum X bought the company last July and it impacts his business as well. It's not just me.

Regardless, I find it strange how callous people can be. I don't see how it's being unreasonable to protect what I've sunk my money into. If anyone needs to earn money from it, it's me.

you definitely need an attorney to look at the contract you have with Platinum-X.

Mutt is dead on. Brandon your titles are some of the best out there. Fight these fucks and make them pay. :2 cents:

If you still own your DVD's and you didnt give away exclusive Internet rights to Platinum-X then what you should be doing to combat this is licensing your DVD's yourself for the web. I have a friend who is going to build a platform where studios and producers can license direct to webmasters - dunno the status of his project.

Just to throw it out there what I own and hold copyrights for, the titles are:

BAKER'S DOZEN vols. 1-9
A GOOD SOURCE OF IRON vols. 1-6
TEN LITTLE PIGGIES vols. 1-9
I LOVE IT ROUGH vols. 1-3
INTENSITIES IN 10 CITIES vols. 1 and 2
SPIT SHINED vols. 1 and 2
PHOTOGRAPHIC MAMMARIES vols. 1-5
50 TO 1 vols. 1-4
SIX PACK
BELL BOTTOMS vols. 1-3

Anyone who is famililar with the history of others who owned product at either Platinum X or Red Light District (Vince Vouyer, Erik Everhard, Mike John, Sean Michaels, Toni Ribas, David Lugar, Steve Holmes, Jewel DeNyle, etc.) will see why I am nervous. I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm just saying that I don't believe things were done fairly or honestly. It was a strange, strange experience to say the least.

This is just a very bad tasting icing on the cake.

They act that way because this is a nameless and faceless business, built on the literal fucking of others. Hope you didn't sign an agreement that dilutes the quality of your brand. This is what happened to Randy West with Evil Angel/New Machine when he licensed his dvd rights to a different company.

If you did, the only thing to do is use it as a learning experience and make sure no more of your content goes to them.

Laywer up Red. Go after them and take them down.

Has anyone out there had any positive or negative dealings with www.adultlicenses.com? Do they have a good reputation? Has anyone ever heard of something similar happening with them specifically? If so, what was the outcome?

That's why AdultLicenses was so rude to him - this shit goes on in the adult video distribution biz all the time and the fuckers know how expensive and long it takes to litigate these things and they bank on that most producers dont have the resources or determination to go the distance legally.

Jules Jordan just won a case against a Canadian video distributor but I bet it cost him a fortune in legal fees and in the end who knows what he will collect of the money awarded to him.

Check with Mach 2 and the other American studios AdultLicenses is licensing.

webmasters i'm sure are happy with them because all they want is high quality content. i see AdultLicenses prices are more expensive than other DVD license brokers.

LegalPink - $819 USD for a DVD license

This is where it gets downright laughable. Mach 2 is owned by Dani Duran and Sydney Nikerk, who run Cal Vista. Cal Vista was the foreign rights broker for Platinum X. I own my titles. No one disputes this, not even Cal Vista, but since my signature is not on any agreement between Cal Vista and Platinum X Europe, I was told by Dani Duran that she couldn't help me.

This seems like a very fast game of Three Card Monty and I'm the mark.

The funny thing is: I wonder how Mach 2 would feel if the situation was reversed. I'm sure they are paid for their product. I can't understand how complacent they are when it comes to my situation.

A less-positive person would say that one thief is just protecting another. I'm glad I am more positive than that because I'm sure this is not the case.

Is Dani still in that extravagant office by the Van Nuys airport? In any case, YES you are getting fucked and your assumption about what's happening seems on the mark. Many wholesalers are doing this type of shit, playing with foreign rights & trading product. They are BANKING while most producers are too busy trying to make new product just to make ends meet. :2 cents:

It's so late that my mind is going in weird circles. My best solution so far is that I start selling product owned by people who give me the run-around instead of a straight answer. When I'm told to stop, I'll parrot the same answers back to them. ie: Sorry, I can't show you any agreement that you didn't sign youself. I wish I could be of more assistance.

Seriously, though, does anyone know what it's called when you demand that proof of an agreement be produced. I may very well be in the wrong here or at the very least, something may be open to interpretation.

I know everyone has better things to do with their time. I am hoping someone who successfully went through a similar situation can help out.

When I turn to sites such as youporn.com, it's little consolation to see a particularly juicy Baker's Dozen clip has been downloaded 3.1 MILLION times. Incredible. I'm just so happy that I could pay for that content.

http://www.youporn.com/watch/8604

OK. Now I'm just being bitter. Time to get some sleep. Will check in tomorrow. Thanks, y'all. Muchos gracias.

Adultlicenses is just doing normal business...

Anyone could claim such accusations...

And that is what lawyers and courts are for. Emails do not protect your rights. Courts do. So get a lawyer and sue both parties.

Doesn't surprise me at all....

I own the content. My name is on the box as the custodian of records. I have the original, filed copyright registrations. Not arguing with you. I'm just wondering what more a reasonable person has to do in order to be treated reasonably.

If adultlicenses.com is just doing normal business, shouldn't they produce the agreement which allows them to sell my content without any benefit to me whatsoever?

I know. I know. Get a lawyer. This is just a rude awakening for me, that's all.

Sorry to hear about the troubles Brandon, hopefully everyone can come to some kind of amicable solution...

Well, at least www.adultlicenses.com is kind enough to state on their site that the titles do not have 2257 information.

http://www.adultlicenses.com/?mode=s...761&studio=105

Maybe the are good guys after all.

On their site it states:
This site and its content is copyrightet under international law to the site holder named under the link "contact"
Every piece of content on this site is legal under international law, we work hard to battle child pornography and other extremes.

I think I should have filed my copyrights with an international court instead of the Library of Congress.

Call Platinum X and ask what the fuck is going on! Sucks man, hope you get everything sorted.

You can not judge shit by what something says on someones site, specially the small print near the bottom about copyrights and such. Hell many actually put that crap is public domain as far as they know and if its yours contact them and they will remove it, knowing full damn well that well nevermind... you get the point.

A friend suggested contacting the company who does www.adultlicenses.com credit card processing. I am more than willing to do this but don't know how. Can someone tell me how I find out who does their credit card processing? Thanks for your time.

Contacting their credit card processor at this point doesn't make sense - you have to be sure you actually didn't permit Platinum-X to do this in your agreement with them. You must have a copy of your contract with Platinum-X no?

A few years ago I went around to various shooters asking them if they would shoot content for me where I just got the Internet rights and they could keep everything else - DVD's - they all said they couldnt because their distributors would not accept it without Internet rights included.

My fear was that even if I did make that kind of deal that some shady LA distributor would still sell the rights to some foreign distributor and the foreign distributor would do exactly what AdultLicenses is doing to you.

I hope for your sake that you didnt sign a shitty deal with Platinum-X and give them the rights to do this without paying you your cut.

Anyway Brandon you own the titles - I am sure that web companies would rather license direct from you so that's what you should do now and make some money while the lawyers work this out.

It seems a lawyer is your best and only solution. Seriously - as much as I can respect many who have spoken here, I would never state my opinion for fear that I do not know everything about the changes in the law etc.

Get a lawyer - if you need a good adult lawyer - hit me up and I have a few I can recommend that are trustworthy

I wish I had some advice, but I can at least wish you good luck.

brandon there is the option of selling your title directly
undercut adultliciences on the pricing keep the money and dog them every time they post one of their sales threads

Adultlicenses = Marc Duvall = Pinelake Prodcutions

Just do a few searches and you will find information, couple of unsatisfied clients. Hope it helps!:2 cents:

Sorry to hear you're being ripped off, Brandon. I remember shooting the box covers for many of those titles.

Marc Duvall = Biggest scumbag

Thanks for the advice, etc. I appreciate it very much. As if I didn't already have enough headaches, this is something that is not wanted nor needed. Someone, somewhere is having a good laugh, I'm sure.

Thanks, Marco! Your photo of Taylor Rain must have been what made that release sell so well. Please get her back so we can do it all again.

Brandon I would do as others have said since it appears the damage is being done and lawyers are fucking expensive.

Set up shop and license the content out yourself. Just undercut that site and let it be known that its you doing the licensing. At least this way your profiting from your material and getting something instead of nothing at all but an ulcer.

Well, if you own the copyrights.

What rights does your distributor have granted? TV / DVD / mobile.. including resale rights?

If Platinum X Europe owns the European DVD rights of course they can't grant to anyone internet resale rights. Check the licensing contracts.

I will not accuse AdultLicenses of anything, because I don't have any proof and was in commercial law long enough to do that - BUT

if you want a hint - check with a couple of people in Scandinavia and in general for the name Marc Duvall..

Except on GFY... were all lawyers during the day :pimp:pimp:pimp

I sure ain't a lawyer but I am a bit involved in licensing, if one third party sold to another third party internet resale rights for a product, they had to be granted the internet resale rights by the copyright holder first.

He still will have to get a lawyer to get the agreement as nobody is willing to hand it over. Then even with an agreement in hand that just means he knows if he is right or wrong and if there is any wiggle room for what they are doing. Making them stop and trying to get an award for damages is another job for lawyers. Then assuming he wins again, enforcement and collecting are an entirely different story.

All of that is a lot of cash out of pocket and companies know it.

The drama continued today but Marc appears to be doing the right thing. He and I have been in communication and all he wants is proof from everyone that they have the right to do what they claim to do.

I offered the following:
1. Access to all signed model releases and cancelled checks from talent in the 44 movies.
2. Copies of Copyright Registration certificates that were filed with the Library of Congress showing that the 44 movies are registered in my name.
3. Copy of the Distribution Agreement between Platinum X and Brandon Iron Productions for dvd distribution. All internet rights are reserved by me with the sole exception being that the content can be used at www.clubplatinumx.com.

What I believe happened is that people are taking a simple dvd distribution agreement and doing something entirely different with it. The people from Cal Vista still refuse to produce the agreement which they allege grants them the right to do this. I did not sign it but I am being told that I must live by its terms....as they are told to me....by them. Wow. I'm speechless.

Brandon, I have known you for a long time now and I know how hard you have worked on all these titles. I remember you and Steve being in the office until the late hours getting things together and I honestly believe that your titles contributed A LOT to building the brandname of Platinum X.

I think you should give john Stagliano a call, he might be able to help or at least point you in the right direction as he has fought copyright infringers before. I don't know if it could be of any use, but a phonecall can make all the difference.

Sebastian aka Dutch

Why not go ahead and take the content ya shot if you have your own rights to it and sell it yerself to webmasters?

Your situation seems complex. You need to contact a copyright lawyer and have him review your case. If you choose to pursue a lawsuit, at a bare minimum, you will need to spend many thousands of dollars. That's basically it.

That's a good question. I hope this is a good answer.
I produce content for 3 sites and 1 dvd release per month. I self-finance my stuff so I am always hustling to get the bills paid. I wear all the hats for Brandon Iron Productions so I just don't have time to do everything I would want to do.

I hear you, that's always a pain, sometimes I have a feel that there are people who sign contracts and review only the possibilities to breach them.

Therefore you always have to be more than cautious and do a decent homework before signing, the problem is, that some of those people even reigh with somehow a positive PR, which might confuse some (well, after all, you can buy yourself a lots of positive reference too).

Law and Justice meet each other often in a very much long and painful manner, that's where we always prefer an out of court settlement as for the minor breaches.

Well if it is exactly as you reffer to, Marc has to have another copy of some form of an agreement with Cal Vista, doesn't he?

Hello all,
We are now ourselves starting to doubt what is going on here, since Platinum X Europe and CalVisat is saying that they cannot give us the contracts showing that they have the rights. Sounds more like we are being used as bait to sell the content they (claim) they own or own. Adultlicenses.com is hereby seizing any distribution of Platinum X and any product related to Platinum X until this case is solved.

Basically nothing will happen until someone can prove they are the legal holder of the rights. Either Cal Visa, Platinum X Europe, Platinum X USA, Calvista or who the heck is involved in this as well.

And this is the last I heard from Calvisa