March 31, 2010 | The Biz

Gay powerhouses take on tube sites

Three big names in online gay porn are joining forces to take on some illegal gay tube sites. Channel One Releasing, Corbin Fisher and Titan Media have called out GayForIt.com, ItsAllGay.com and JerkYourTube.com for copyright infringement and piracy, issuing legal actions against the tube sites and the men who run them.

“The websites operated by defendants ... serve as prime examples of websites designed with the sole purpose of redirecting profits from copyright holders to the un-invested poachers operating the infringing sites,” the complaint reads. “Defendants operate these sites while maintaining the fiction that they offer a forum for consumers to upload and share their own original ‘user-generated’ adult video content, [when] in reality, defendants use these sites to collect and then re-sell access to an extensive collection of infringing adult videos, including works belonging to Plaintiffs."

Damages are said to equal $29.1 million for copyright infringement alone, with additional damages to be determined during the trial.

Two brothers, Steven and David Compton, have also been named in the suit, with the plaintiffs accusing them of using fake names to play key roles in the three tube companies.

This marks the first time gay adult companies have banded together to battle illegal tube sites, an encouraging sign of cooperation in an industry known for intense competition. After all, if illegal tube sites and file-sharing continue to gouge production companies' profits, there will eventually be no incentive to produce high-quality porn.

Corbin Fisher, Titan, Channel One Sue Three Gay Tubes [AVN]