November 8, 2005 | The Biz

Steal pictures, lose your site

Titan Media recently managed to convince a California district court that Bareback.com, a website that had been  found guilty of stealing Titan images but refused to pay the judgment against it, should have its domain name seized in the same way that tangible assets might be seized.

For any website owner having your domain name taken from you is tantamount to losing your entire business. So the owners of Bareback.com found themselves in an unenviable position: make a deal or lose it all.

Bareback.com maintains that the photos in question were not posted by the site but by third parties (members of its dating section). Titan says it found the photos on two separate occassions in the members area of the site. Bareback.com also says it did not get proper notification of the seizure judgement. However, in the end the two parties did agree to an undisclosed settlement and Bareback.com will keep its domain. 

Titan, which believes strongly in safer sex in porn, is donating all proceeds of the settlement, after legal expenses, to HIV and AIDS charities.

• Titan Media sets precedent in copyright infringement case [AVN Online]