A publisher has won a court order against an operator of a
network for access to porn sites that requires the company to
screen its 300,000 affiliate sites for copyright infringement,
according to a report by Newsbytes.
Cybernet Ventures of California runs a business called Adult
Check which, in effect, sells passwords to around 300,000 porn
sites on the internet. Its four million customers pay subscription
fees of $20 per quarter for access to the sites. Forbes magazine
estimates its annual revenue at $320 million, much of which is
passed on to the affiliate sites.
Norman Zadeh, publisher of a quarterly magazine called Perfect
10, sued in a California federal court, accusing Adult Check of
working with porn sites that steal his pictures for use in doctored
nude-celebrity photos.
The judge ruled that the magazine could sue not only web sites
that steal the image, but also Adult Check, being a web site that
profited from the theft.
