Perfect 10 At It Again: Sues Web Host Of Megaupload In The Wrong Country With The Wrong Process

from the 10-is-the-loneliest-number dept

Wed, Feb 19th 2014 7:23am — Timothy Geigner

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a friend in the copyright discussion in Perfect 10. In case you're not familiar with it, Perfect 10 is a company that at one time produced wanking material before turning to the far more noble endeavor of entertaining the hell out of us by suing everyone on the planet for copyright infringement. I say they're a friend, because they appear to be going to some length to establish good caselaw by losing suit after suit after suit. Their work is exemplary, really, in terms of their inability to win anything at all.

And they're at it again. This time, they have decided to sue LeaseWeb, most notable as the hosting provider for Megaupload.

In their complaint, Perfect 10 accuses LeaseWeb of providing hosting services to several websites that host pirated copies of their images.

“Defendants host and provide Internet connectivity and other essential services to websites, including infringing websites operated in California that have infringed tens of thousands of Perfect 10 Copyrighted Works,” the complaint states.

According to Perfect 10, LeaseWeb currently hosts at least eight websites in the U.S. which store their work without permission; Imgchili.net, imgchili.com, imgtiger.com, imgserve.net, Poringa.net, ultraforos.com, ultraforos.net and Galleryworld.info.

Well, hey, Perfect 10, thanks for letting all of us know exactly where we can find your smut for free, I guess. We have a couple of problems, of course. First, they're suing the hosting provider, indicating that LeaseWeb is "directly responsible" for the infringement done on the aforementioned sites. Then, probably because they realize what a problematic argument that is to make, they mention that LeaseWeb hosted for Megaupload, as though just mentioning the infamous website was some kind of legal trump card. It isn't.

But the problems don't end there. To start, Megaupload is arguing that they regularly comply with DMCA notices sent its way.

“All infringing files Perfect 10 has ever reported to Mega have been removed within hours. We keep track of all DMCA notices and could identify all notifications from Perfect 10 and we have verified that all reported links were disabled within hours."

Some may find that claim dubious, but it doesn't even matter. The point is that hosts typically forward DMCA notices sent their way to the sites in question, who are responsible for taking the content down. LeaseWeb is a hosting service provider. One, by the way, that is hosting sites that aren't even located in the United States.

Leaseweb told Tf that the company hasn’t been served yet, and points out that most of the sites mentioned are hosted by the Dutch LeaseWeb Netherlands BV.

“We use the Dutch Notice and Takedown procedure for LeaseWeb Netherlands BV customers which gives an equivalent protection as the DMCA, we therefor do not see why the US would be the correct forum,” the company states.

So, while Perfect 10 is humbly asking for a mere $188 million in damages, they're likely doing so in the wrong country, against the wrong party, and throwing around an infamous website name like some kind of bower card. That isn't how the law works, but I encourage them to keep at it, since their track record suggests every lawsuit they file results in a winning token for our side.

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Filed Under: copyright
Companies: leaseweb, megaupload, perfect 10

12 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2014 @ 7:47am

Ironic company name #213
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That One Guy (profile), 19 Feb 2014 @ 7:59am

I wonder...
I can't help but wonder, perhaps they read about the German courts finding domain registrar's liable for copyright infringement by sites registered with them, and either a) missed the 'German courts' part, or b) were hoping that the court they filed the suit in was equally incompetent and/or technologically ignorant.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2014 @ 8:00am

I'm surprised that there's no class action lawsuit against them for being....IDIOTS!!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2014 @ 8:11am

Just Sayin' just hates it when due process is enforced.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2014 @ 8:51am

Their next step will be sue the country under whose jurisdiction the hosting company operates; for allowing a company to host sites that host infringing materials. Then they will move onto the united nations for not stopping countries for allowing companies to ....
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2014 @ 9:29am

the proof of what Mega did once notified by Perfect 10 can be had by simply asking the DoJ of the USA. they in turn can ask the FBI, as it is this law enforcement agency that has the HDD taken during the Mega raid by the DoJ and passed on to them, illegally, when they were supposed to stay in NZ. you have to admit that you cant get a better reference than one of a nation's elite security forces, surely? they would never do anything they shouldn't, would they??
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That One Guy (profile), 19 Feb 2014 @ 9:33am

Re:
I believe the HDD's they stole were only Dotcom's personal drives, the servers containing the MU data were only partially cloned by the DoJ, and then wiped due to Dotcom not being able to pay the upkeep costs for them, and the DoJ not caring about the preservation of any evidence that didn't help their case.
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Rekrul, 19 Feb 2014 @ 12:43pm

I remember when Perfect 10 first started trying to sue various companies. They claimed that their images were being posted all over the net without their permission. I had only heard of Perfect 10 because some of their models appeared on The X Show. At the time, I tried to find some of these photos and always came up empty.

Now they're much easier to find, but back then, I don't know what Perfect 10 was complaining about. I couldn't find anything from them.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 19 Feb 2014 @ 1:49pm

When parody gets out of hand, this happens.
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Ninja (profile), 20 Feb 2014 @ 1:56am

Re:
When parody meets reality you mean?
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Jul 2016 @ 1:46am

antidirt/average_joe and Whatever/My Name Here/Just Sayin'/horse with no name just hate it when due process is enforced.

If you agree with this comment, report/don't report it.
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Geny Marsh, 7 Jul 2016 @ 3:28am

Cheap Web hosting company
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