
Because he can’t sue every Muslim in the world, Michael Lucas has found a new target for his general ire: copyright infringers.
The porn producer’s company Lucas Entertainment announced legal action (site NSFW) against 65 as-yet-unidentified defendants accused of downloading its flick Missing via BitTorrent.
The complaint (PDF) is quite brief at six pages, and it’s unclear whether Lucas first filed DMCA complaints against alleged infringers and the site Lucas claims facilitated the action. But it should mostly be interpreted as: a) an indication of increased crackdown on web pirates using the same strategy as groups like the MPAA; b) free publicity for the DVD Missing.
[photo of Michael Lucas looking very legal-y via Lucas Entertainment]
I can’t imagine buying Michael Lucas’s crappy porn, but I can’t imagine taking the time to bother downloading it either. Blech.
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I suspect this may be a one off. Porn studios are so fragmented that most of them wouldn’t be able to afford extended mpaa style litigation. Hell, the MPAA can’t even afford it (for long anyway). Besides, most of them don’t want the negative attention, unlike Mikey here, porn already has a negative connotation in the public conciousness.
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“I am always surprised that users would deal with torrent sites and all the hassle that requires instead of streaming through LucasEntertainment.com”
And I am always surprised that users would pay for streaming through LucasEntertainment.com instead of getting it for free off a torrent stream.
(What happened to his lips?)
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@No.12.Peter
No way! I wouldn’t pay a cent for anything connected to Lucas. He hasn’t figured out that he needs to stop putting himself in his own films (he’s a boner kill). Not to mention, he’s got a pretty poisonous attitude. The guys a black hole to good energy.
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Lucas’ strategy is likely to fail, as the courts have already said that each (illegal) download is an individual act and the thief would have to be sued, individually, not as a group of John Does. Were that possible, we wouldn’t be looking at massive copyright infringement and the near-collapse of the porn industry, let alone the entire entertainment industry.
That said, Lucas has repeatedly both escaped the reach, and taken full advantage, of the court. The Felini estate’s lawsuit for Lucas’ enfringement of La Dolce Vita, for example, ended with the court saying that the Felini side couldn’t prove they owned the rights to the film and therefor had no standing to sue Lucas, not that Lucas was innocent. I would not surprise me in any way for the court to side with Lucas (and Lucas alone) and allow this suit to go forward.
In the end, Lucas will fail, as the cost of pursuing this strategy is too great. But he will succeed in receiving tons of PR from websites, just like this one.
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I’m not sure why everyone is hating on him. If you spend money to produce and market a movie why is it OK for thiefs to come along and steal it? I don’t get why everyone thinks this is OK. WTF?
[img]http://www.c1r.com/system/box_covers/AW11267/front_cover/AFFIRMATIVE_WEBfrt_original.jpg?1271443203[/img]
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@L.: I’m pretty sure the guy on the right is at least half-black but good question…
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@james_from_the_great_city_of_cambridge: Wiki says you’re right. I had no idea. Darn. (It also says he’s 38, which was an even bigger surprise.)
@Sed: Well, it *was* funny before Mr James here ruined it :)
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@Elie: After a whold day of looking at the pic in response no. 1, I finally get it. It’s Osama Bin Laden or some Muslim cleric holding his head, disappointed at Lucas’ stupid bigotry, LOL! Can’t believe so many people who gave it a thumbs up got it so quick.
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@Peter: Anybody who pays for porn in the age of xtube (& rockettube, bittorrent, & thousands of other sites) is either stupid or completely out of their mind.
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