Pink Visual, Manwin Settle Copyright Infringement Suit
YNOT – Ventura Content AVV, parent company of Pink Visual Productions, and Manwin group of companies, parent of Brazzers, on Monday settled the copyright infringement suit Ventura filed in February. Co-defendants Mansef Inc. and Interhub also are parties to the settlement.Financial terms of the settlement are confidential.
Without admitting liability, Manwin has agreed to implement on its various tube sites the copyright filtering software offered by Vobile Inc. Testing already has begun, representatives of the companies said Monday. Vobile’s program flags fingerprinted content and helps prevent users from sharing material that is not theirs to share.
“Anti-piracy programs, and the use of protective software, were within our plans from the moment the assets were bought,” said Manwin Managing Partner Fabian Thylmann. “Since March 2010, we’ve been taking various measures to implement procedures that support good industry practices. It has been a pleasure to work with Vobile, and we are happy that the FSC has partnered with such a strong contender in the field.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Manwin’s implementation of the fingerprint filtering applies not only to Pink Visual content, but also to all other studios that maintain digital fingerprints with Vobile now and in the future.
Pink Visual President Allison Vivas said her company is pleased with the settlement. She emphasized that settling the case in no way indicates Pink Visual intends to step down its efforts to protect intellectual property rights.
“We are serious about enforcing our rights as copyright owners and feel that we’ve come to an agreement that is reasonable for both parties,” Vivas said. “The incorporation of the technology for digital fingerprint filtering by the tubes was a necessity from our perspective, and we are happy that Manwin has agreed to incorporate that technology through the FSC’s Anti-Piracy Action Program.
“The agreement provides that Manwin will incorporate the Vobile digital fingerprinting software, which is the back end powering the FSC Anti-Piracy Action Program; therefore, creating a benefit to all content owners in the industry who also choose to digitally fingerprint through APAP at any time,” she added.
Content owners and operators of user-generated content sites may find more information about the FSC’s program at FSCAPAP.com.
Vivas noted that studios and site operators attending the upcoming Content Protection Retreat will have the opportunity to learn about FSC’s APAP in-depth.