MELBOURNE - The Adult Industry Copyright Organization (AICO) reports that Australian company Digital Sinema and its owner Jim Karakikes now face damages of over $2,000,000 for pirating adult DVDs from several U.S. studios.
According to AICO's June newsletter, lawyers for the applicants were able, via subpoenas, to access Digital Sinema's banking, printing and photocopying records leading to a rise in the damage claims. The court ordered Digital Sinema and Digital Sinema Australia to promise that they would not dispose of or move any assets until the judge delivers a full judgment in this case. The companies were also ordered to file and serve a full list of their assets via an affidavit signed by Karakikes.
The judge found in March 2007 that Karakikes' companies had infringed upon the copyrights of Vivid, Titan Media, Acid Rain, Colossal, Zero Tolerance, Red Light District, Wicked, Falcon and Manuel Ferarra films and breached the confidentiality of Calvista Australia's client mailing list.
Digital Sinema appealed the ruling, but Federal Magistrate Driver dismissed the appeal, saying, "The defense is untenable in light of the full Federal Court Judgement."
"The use of subpoenas in the Digital Sinema case has shown that banks, government agencies and businesses that provide services or goods to respondents can be forced to hand over documents that may be relevant to a case," said AICO Executive Officer Graeme Dunne.
Australian courts have recently made other crucial copyright judgments, including rejection of an appeal by Venus Adult Shops and others to reopen their unsuccessful case with Australian adult distributor, CalVista. CalVista Australia and Fraserside Holdings Ltd had won the appeal of the first Venus Case and both companies are now expected to claim over $300,000 in damages, interest and costs.
"I have been doing business in Australia for 20 years, and because of AICO and its members I can offer real dollars to producers that I represent like Vivid, Club Jenna and Teravision," said Todd Blatt of Antigua Pictures, a long-standing supporter of the Aussie organization's anti-piracy efforts. "It's nice to include Australia in the category of valuable territories that actually generate real revenues."
For more information on joining AICO, visit www.aico.org.au.
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