Pornhub is without a doubt one of the most visited adult entertainment outlets on the Internet.
Pornhub is without a doubt one of the most visited adult entertainment outlets on the Internet.The ‘entertainment’ platform is owned by MindGeek, the company formerly known as Manwin. In just a few years it has transformed the adult industry’s pay-to-access model into an all-you-can-eat, free-to-stream business.
Part of this magic formula is down to Pornhub and other MindGeek-owned tube sites allowing users to share content. This material includes legitimate videos from official Pornhub models, as well as thousands of videos that are copyrighted by MindGeek, such as the Brazzers and Reality Kings brands.
This content is freely available and monetized through advertisements. However, there is one particular threat to this lucrative business model: pirate sites.
When Pornhub got started fifteen years ago the site featured many pirated videos itself. Today, this image has changed, partly due to the mandatory verification of uploaders. Instead, Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek is now actively waging legal battles against competitors.
These DMCA takedown campaigns and lawsuits have already resulted in some success. Just a few months ago, MindGeek won its case against DaftSex. In addition to millions of dollars in damages, the court also ruled that the company could take over related domain names, which had millions of visitors.
DaftSex wasn’t completely defeated and soon reappeared with a new domain name. Meanwhile, MindGeek’s attention is drawn to its lawsuit against tube site Goodporn, which had some bizarre developments recently.
MindGeek Sues Goodporn
Initially filed in 2021 at a federal court in California, the copyright infringement lawsuit accuses the site and its operator of large-scale copyright infringement.
“The GoodPorn Website is a pirate website, displaying copyrighted adult entertainment content without authorization or license,” the complaint alleged.
MindGeek initially tried to contain the problem by sending DMCA takedown notices. This didn’t help, as the site purportedly ignored them, allowing it to profit from the alleged infringing activity of its users.
“Defendants do not even attempt to comply with their obligations under the DMCA. Instead, Defendants systematically refuse to comply with proper and compliant DMCA takedown notices,” MindGeek wrote.
The complaint is similar to those seen earlier targeting alleged pirate sites. The response is altogether different, however. Goodporn’s owner, Amrit Kumar from India, is fighting back hard.
‘Pro Se’ Defense & Attack
Kumar has answered the complaint with “pro se” filings, which means that he is representing himself without a lawyer. This is unusual but not noticeable from the text. The arguments read as if they were written by an attorney or even a team of lawyers.
After failing to have the case dismissed over a lack of jurisdiction, the defendant submitted an answer to the complaint which denies all copyright infringement allegations in addition to a counterclaim.
The counterclaims and defense go hand in hand. They are predicated on the claim that MindGeek (MG Premium) signed a bilateral agreement with Goodporn in 2019, to transfer the rights of its content.
A copy of the agreement is offered as evidence and signed by Kumar. MindGeek’s Ferass Antoon is listed as the second signatory. Antoon was the CEO of the adult company but left his position a few months ago, according to media reports.
Fraudulent Agreement?
Kumar brought this agreement up at an earlier stage of the lawsuit since it suggests that the site had the right to use the contested videos. In response, MindGeek subsidiary MG Premium dismissed the document as fraudulent.
“Defendant Kumar has made a claim of ownership of Plaintiff’s work and infringement by Plaintiff. First, he claims ownership over all of Plaintiff’s works via a contract that is, on information and belief, fraudulent.
“The alleged signatory for Plaintiff, Feras Antoon, has never held any position with Plaintiff,” MG Premium added.
The latter sentence may refer to the fact that MindGeek is not the same company as MG Premium. The latter is a subsidiary, under which thousands of MindGeek-linked copyrights are registered.
Whether the document is real or not remains a point of contention and it’s not our place to opine on that. The matter will eventually have to be resolved in court but the counterclaim suggests more fireworks may lie ahead.
Millions + Pornhub.com
Goodporn accuses MG Premium of unfair business practices and breach of contract. The first claim partly relates to DMCA notices MG Premium sent to Google, asking it to remove Goodporn URLs. The notices were illegitimate, Kumar argues.
The breach of contract claim alleges that MG Premium is the copyright-infringing party here, as the company signed over its rights to Goodporn.
“Counter Plaintiff entered into a bilateral agreement with Counter defendant, MG Premium Ltd, under which all the counter defendant’s contents, including videos, galleries, and stories, were transferred to Counter Plaintiff. Counter Defendant is currently violating counter Plaintiffs copyrights by continuing to use these works without permission.”
Kumar adds that the agreement is legitimate and suggests that there is a financial paper trail to back this up.
“The bilateral agreement is real and legitimate. The contract’s validity can be confirmed by checking Mr. Feras Antoon’s financial statements or those of his partners, such as Bernd Bergmair, who owns a majority of Mind Geek, and David Tassillo, the COO of the company.”
The court will ultimately have to make sense of this bizarre situation. Kumar’s demands suggest that there is a lot at stake, including Pornhub’s future.
As part of the counterclaim, Goodporn requests $10 million in damages for breach of contract, as stipulated in the agreement. In addition, Goodporn wants to be on record as the legitimate rightsholder, while MG Premium should stop all infringing activities.
The Pornhub.com domain name is also targeted, as Goodporn asks the court to sign it over if it wins the case. However, this domain is not owned by MG Premium, which appears to make the request moot.
The counterclaim further requests an order that requires Google to reinstate all Goodporn URLs that were removed based on MG Premium’s DMCA notices, while credit card businesses should be ordered to stop working with allegedly infringing sites such as Brazzers.com and Mofos.com.
Needless to say, the allegations from both sides must be proven before damages or other relief come into play. Thus far, the adult entertainment imperium doesn’t seem to be particularly concerned.
“These counterclaims are untrue, frivolous, and absurd. We look forward to our attorneys dealing with this matter through the court system,” MindGeek informs TorrentFreak.
Update: The original title of this article read “Pornhub Risks Losing Its Domain Name in Bizarre Piracy Lawsuit” and was updated for accuracy’s sake. MG Premium doesn’t own the domain name, so it doesn’t appear to be at risk. The counter-plaintiff demands a sign over nonetheless, as stated above.
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A copy of Goodporn/Amrit Kumar’s answers, defenses, and the counterclaims are available here (pdf). The document also contains the relevant exhibits including the agreement
