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Latest Mass Copyright Infringement Suit Involves Paris Hilton's Sex Tape

from the who-owns-the-copyright-now? dept

Wed, Jan 26th 2011 4:03pm — Mike Masnick

In the past year or so, it seems that the porn industry has really jumped on board the train of supporting the mass "pay up or we'll sue" copyright infringement shakedown efforts. While some folks have been paying up to avoid a lawsuit, the actual court cases haven't been particularly successful so far. However, it's interesting to see that the latest "film" being used in one of these programs is the famed Paris Hilton sex tape, "One Night in Paris," that came out in 2003 and is a big part of what catapulted Hilton to her current level of fame. Of course, when it came out there were a few legal fights over who actually owned the rights to the film. Those legal fights have been settled for now, with both of the "participants" in the video apparently earning a cut of any revenue. Of course, given how much the free distribution of this video helped increase Ms. Hilton's value and bank account, it's a little silly to see folks now suing over it. I imagine that, like the other similar cases, those bringing the lawsuit will find that it's not that easy to succeed in court. But I'm sure plenty of people will still just pay up, rather than risk having to go to court to explain their porn downloading habits.

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Filed Under: copyright, paris hilton, pre-settlement, sex tape

21 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2011 @ 4:49pm

Of course, given how much the free distribution of this video helped increase Ms. Hilton's value and bank account, it's a little silly to see folks now suing over it.

Ms Hilton doesn't own the rights to the video. Whatever good it did for her has already happened. She isn't involved in any lawsuit. The company suing is called "Xpays"
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Hephaestus (profile), 26 Jan 2011 @ 5:26pm

I would spend one night at the paris hilton ... but never one night in paris hilton ...
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- Hephaestus (profile), 26 Jan 2011 @ 5:28pm
  
  Re:
  would that fit in a tweet?
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- DS, 26 Jan 2011 @ 6:16pm
  
  Re: Don't lean on me man
  Why would you spend all night anyways? It should be wham, bam, thank-you-ma'am.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2011 @ 6:26pm
    
    Re: Re: Don't lean on me man
    Note: if you can spend all night in a woman you should see a doctor.
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    - Hephaestus (profile), 26 Jan 2011 @ 7:49pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Don't lean on me man
      Or consider yourself very lucky. :)
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  - Hephaestus (profile), 26 Jan 2011 @ 8:13pm
    
    Re: Re: Don't lean on me man
    You don't get many second dates do you? ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2011 @ 6:35pm

Yeah, I'd tap that.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2011 @ 6:36pm

I'm referencing "the famed Paris Hilton sex tap,"
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- Jay (profile), 26 Jan 2011 @ 7:05pm
  
  Re:
  You might wanna put it back. You don't know where it's been.
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- ethorad (profile), 27 Jan 2011 @ 5:30am
  
  Re:
  Thinking that was a bit of a Freudian slip from Mike there ...
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cram, 26 Jan 2011 @ 7:37pm

"Of course, given how much the free distribution of this video helped increase Ms. Hilton's value and bank account, it's a little silly to see folks now suing over it."

That's a blatant lie, Mike. It may have increased Ms Hilton's price, but not her value, which remains zero. Surely you know price does not equal value.
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- Hephaestus (profile), 26 Jan 2011 @ 8:15pm
  
  Re:
  "That's a blatant lie, Mike. It may have increased Ms Hilton's price, but not her value, which remains zero. Surely you know price does not equal value."
  
  If the funny button was anywhere to be seen, I would have clicked it.
  
  You guys are still having problems.
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  - Rekrul, 26 Jan 2011 @ 8:47pm
    
    Re: Re:
    If the funny button was anywhere to be seen, I would have clicked it.
    
    You guys are still having problems.
    
    The buttons only show up if you have Javascript enabled. Of course then the page takes four times longer to load...
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    - PRMan, 27 Jan 2011 @ 5:21am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Using NoScript, I turned on Javascript for techdirt.com only. It's just as fast, but all the controls work.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 27 Jan 2011 @ 11:13am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Indeed, good sir. However, I would not leave to chance "something we broke" that has not yet been fixed, considering that Mike Masnick often speaks of a "We" in the 5-10 daily posts that are contain authorship of himself.
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        Mike Masnick (profile), 27 Jan 2011 @ 4:29pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Indeed, good sir. However, I would not leave to chance "something we broke" that has not yet been fixed,
        
        Hmm? It was fixed yesterday morning. Not sure what you think is still broken.
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- yogi, 26 Jan 2011 @ 11:14pm
  
  Re:
  Zing!
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2011 @ 11:10pm

"XPAYS claims that they �spent a substantial amount of time, money and effort to produce, market and distribute� the film, and that their profits are now dwindling due to mass copyright infringement."

To produce an allegedly secretly taped movie that was then sold without her consent?
So in their filing they admit it was a setup, they paid to invade her privacy and are profiting from it.
Seems she should sue them for that or something...

At least she is being useful as a good example of what not to be when you grow up.
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Shon Gale (profile), 27 Jan 2011 @ 6:05am

Oh My!! No one wants to pay to watch skank.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2011 @ 5:22pm

Sorry to say, but it isn't all that good. She's rather quiet and passive. If you want to see some good celebrity sex vids, check out those of Amy Fisher, Montana Fishburne, and Jessica Sierra.
Tila Tequila's vid with two other girls will be released soon. YEAH, BABY, YEAH!
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