Internet Age Verification Service May Be Liable For Content on Web Sites They Protect

In a new development in Internet pornography law, a Los Angeles federal court has found that an Internet age verification service can be held liable for the content displayed on the adult Web sites to which it monitors access. On April 22, 2002 U.S. District Judge Lourdes Baird (C.D.CA) granted a preliminary injunction in Perfect 10, Inc. v. Cybernet Ventures, Inc. in favor of adult magazine Perfect 10 against defendant Cybernet Ventures, Inc., the owner of Adult Check, an Internet age verification service, based on claims that the Web sites that subscribe to Adult Check had unlawfully published celebrity photographs belonging to Perfect 10.

Perfect 10, which claims a circulation of 90,000 and serves the market for photographs of implant free "natural women" and specializes in celebrities, alleges that the Web sites served by Adult Check post Perfect 10’s copyrighted celebrity photographs and violate the publicity rights of the celebrities in those photographs. "This is about law and order finally coming to the Wild West of the adult community on the Internet," said J.D. Obenberger, a Chicago First Amendment lawyer.

Following the Judge’s order, Adult Check ended its protection of the sites in its "Models and Celebrities" section, which it said made up about six percent of its revenue. "Since the beginning, the celebrity sites haven't been the big draw to our system," said Brad Estes, Director of Business Development for Cybernet Ventures. "It turns out that the fetish, amateur and special niche sites are the draw."

Why This Matters: By focusing on a third party that happens to profit from the unlawful activity occurring on the Internet pornography sites, this ruling provides valid copyright holders with another avenue for policing rampant Web porn piracy.

This article originally appeared in ADLAW By Request, a publication of Hall Dickler Kent Goldstein & Wood LLP.