November 9, 2007 | The Biz

J'accuse! Lucas takes on Raging Stallion

Michael Lucas has never shied away from publicity, controversy or generally pissing people off. This time the porn producer is taking   on  Raging Stallion Studios, and he wants everyone to know why.

In an open letter on Lucas' blog, he talks about the lawsuit brought against him by International Media Films Inc. (IMF) which accused Lucas of trademark and copyright infringement for his use of the title "La Dolce Vita" for one of his videos. "Demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars," Lucas writes, "my accusers have on numerous occasions claimed that they know that my film made millions of dollars for me, citing a 'very reliable source,' that knows the industry from within."

The source? According to Lucas it's Raging Stallion. "The relevant documentation can not yet be made public. But I knew anyway from other sources that Raging Stallion is inaccurately and maliciously representing that I am making millions of dollars in sales, including foreign sales, and accusing me of illegally duplicating Fellini’s film in China. They are advising the party suing me not to trust me. The list of lies is long."

And then the gloves really came off...

Of these "brave" boys of Raging Stallion I ask; why are you so consistently going after me? Is your business not keeping you happy? Are your finances that bad? Are your shameless, pathetically written press releases that useless? Or are you motivated to these petty, malicious actions by having lost the damned awards? Did it get to you so bad that you’ve made the most-nominated film in history into the most unprofitable one? With the money I have had to spend on the legal defense in this year alone, I could have made parts 3, 4 and 5.

Within two hours of posting this rant, Chris Ward from Raging Stallion responded.

Ward stated that his studio and its employees had nothing to do with Lucas' legal issues, nor did they have any reason to know, work with or even approach the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in this case.

Ward then went on to say, "It is our hope that going forward Michael Lucas will keep his ongoing drama to himself and leave us out of it. We have nothing to do with it and all of us are baffled by the mention of our name in connection to this case."

And though we're no Miss Marple it would seem odd for one studio to expend so much energy, and risk their own reputation, over another company's court battles. Is Lucas' claim a valid one, or have we all just fallen victim to another well placed, if somewhat obvious, publicity stunt?