Miami-based gay-porn company, Flava Works has won $3 million in damages from two men found guilty of downloading its content and then illegally uploading then onto BitTorrent sites.
Kywan Fisher of Virginia and Cormelian Brown of Delaware were each assigned a $1.5 million default judgment for using their paid memberships to nab content they later uploaded on GayTorrents.net, reports Forbes.com.
More than a dozen other offenders were called out by the site, but only Brown and Fisher failed to respond to summonses or show up in court, resulting in the summary judgments against them.
“That was the maximum we were entitled to, so it wasn’t unexpected. But I thought they might tone it down,” says Philip Bleicher, CEO of Flava Works, which is known for ethnic porn flicks like Mixxxed Nuts and the Thug Boy series.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Two other suits are currently underway, but Bleicher says a majority of violations are resolved before the courts have to get involved: “When we catch a customer distributing our movies on file-sharing sites, we want to cut it off at the source.”
Katbox
“ethnic” right…
I suppose these 3rd rate porn companies weren’t earning enough through subs so they decided to persecute.
Good luck collecting the $1.5 million.
Ron Jackson
@Katbox:
Yeah, good luck indeed. You would think the dumb asses would have learned from Corbin Fisher and Lucas Ent. that the only thing you accomplish is to piss off your paying customers as well as the leechers.
LeNair Xavier
I don’t see why the guy was fined anything. After all, this is FlavaWorks we’re talking about. A company that I know firsthand reinforces negative stereotypes of gay Black males, and seeks out to be their models those who think the little bit of chump change they pay is worth something.
With that being the case, there was no REAL “creativity” being stolen. It was a guy posting someone else’s trash for others to take part of.
Scott Johansen
Ghetto ghetto ghetto.
and I’m not talking about their cover, it’s their actions.
But whatdya expect from porn leeches.
Reality101
Some of the most f-cked up individuals I’ve met have been involved in the porn industry. Not just a few, I’m talking many. It’s well known many in the porn industry have very few boundaries as to how they will get money. Be it lawsuit or violence- which we’ve all seen play out recently in the news.
Also, a very very homophobic crowd. I’m talking both the straight porn industry and the gay porn industry.
USC Trojans Fan
I once talked to the owner of a division in a black gay porn company (not this one) who was black himself, and he said, and these are his exact words “I like the black guys in the vids to be as ghetto and hood as possible” I said, doesn’t that reinforce stereotypes and he said he didn’t care. He actually wanted guys on the DL and said it’s because most black gay men have a fantasy of being barebacked by a down low brother. He said in many of the vids, they promote the image that the top is a gang member. I told him that gang members are responsible for destroying lives, communities and children and should never be glorified. His response was “money baby. that’s my bottom line”
So there you have it.
sneakydub
This article is a bit misleading. There was no settlement as stated in the title. Flava Works won a default judgment because the defendant never made an appearance in court. No money has exchanged hands, and it’s likely no money ever will–mostly because the defendants probably have no money.
NotStr8Acting
Yuck at all three guys looking so ridiculous in that picture. I’d rather do a stuffed animal than any of them. No thanks. And guy on furthest right, take that dang thing out your mouth. You look like a fool.
searchcz
Shouldn’t that headline be about illegal uploaders – downloading videos available to them through their paid membership would almost certainly be legal, but uploading those videos into BitTorrent would be illegal. Yes?
BlackBlue
@USC Trojans Fan: What the owner told you was a bunch of nonsense. Complete and utter B.S.
Most gay Black men??? Did he really interview the majority of gay Black men in the US??
Well neither have I nor you. But I can tell you what I believe based on my Black friends and acquaintances: I “believe” the majority of gay Black men do not have a fantasy of being barebacked by a down low brother any more then the majority of gay White men have a fantasy of being barebacked by someone in in the KKK or a Neo-nazi party. And I think It’s foolish to equate DL with being a gang member. And believe me, Very few will find a hard core gang member, who destroy lives, communities and children to be sexy or someone they desiree to bottom for. What I believe a BTM of any race would find attractive is masculinity. Not someone who is violent prone. And then I would question if the majority of gay Black men are even bottoms and are into barebacking???
So there you have it. And more…
NotStr8Acting
@BlackBlue: Not a dang thing wrong with being a bottom. And I and many people I know will take some fem in their top too. Heck, I’ll take any man who is true to himself and isn’t playing a hetero washed act to be “str8 acting”. But I got what you meant in your post.
Rockery
@Scott Johansen: @Reality101: @USC Trojans Fan: @NotStr8Acting:
LOL FAIL AGAIN
Queerty… hello??
BlogZilla
How is this porn company going to collect the $1.5million? Do they think most of their customers are millionaires like them?? If they really want to stop this free porn omen, they should arrest and prosecute the people that run the bit torrent sites. They are clearly violating copyright law, by hosting and making available for free distribution, copyrighted works.. Never upload copyrighted content to bit torrent sites. You’re just asking for trouble.
BlogZilla
@USC Trojans Fan: I suppose you are correct, because some people have bad taste and like low class ghetto, regardless of color. Apparently that’s what sells for him. However that’s on the screen, in real life I doubt if most people, regardless of color want to get barebacked, because we have respect for ourselves, besides having a little sexual education under our ‘belt’.
Why would a person think it’s worth it to expose themselves to dangerous diseases even more when it come to bareback sex, if they don’t have to? I know oral sex has risks too, but you up the ante even more with bareback anal.
tdx3fan
Countless studies have shown a link between low self-esteem and the desire to practice unsafe sex. The guys that want to bareback bottom normally have a very low opinion of themselves, according to these studies. I do not believe the black community as a whole has low self-esteem or wants to bareback bottom for a “thug.”
Also, I do not even understand why anyone would use bit torrents to even download much less upload copyrighted content of any type (especially pornography) when there is a vast plethora of free sites on the internet.
SB1
@BlackBlue: Thank you so much for calling out that bullshit. I get so damn sick and tired of being stereotyped by the same group that hates to be stereotyped!