NEW YORK—During an early morning Wednesday raid on a retail shop in the Big Apple, U.S. Marshals seized more than 10,000 bootleg DVDs, duplicating equipment, computers and other materials allegedly used in counterfeiting copyrighted adult content. The marshals acted on a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, based on a lawsuit gay adult studio Pitbull Productions filed against a suspected content pirate.
According to the suit, B&B Bookstore, located on Christopher Street in New York City, duplicates, imports, distributes and sells unauthorized merchandise that infringes upon copyrighted and trademarked properties. Interstate commerce in the bootlegged materials puts B&B in violating of the Latham Act, among others, the lawsuit notes.
“Pitbull worked tirelessly to obtain sufficient evidence for the federal court to approve the raid, including long-term undercover operations which yielded information that many of the major adult gay movie studios had DVDs that were being bootlegged,” Pitbull Executive Vice President Bruce Fleming said.
The raid was part of a widening investigation into conduct at the store, Fleming said. With its lawsuit, Pitbull Productions seeks to determine all parties, persons and entities involved in the counterfeiting, illegal distribution and sale of the studio’s DVDs. The court allowed a Pitbull representative to accompany the marshals in order to help identify potentially unauthorized materials in the shop.
“These egregious acts of corporate terrorism will not be tolerated, and [we] have employed every legal means at [our] disposal to apprehend and prosecute all those involved,” Fleming said.
The court already has granted Pitbull a restraining order to prevent B&B from creating or selling more counterfeit DVDs. Forensic computer technicians are expected to analyze the contents of all computers seized in the raid in order to establish the scope of the bootlegging operation.
“The increased proliferation of counterfeit merchandise and DVD piracy of adult male entertainment properties has gone on for far too long,” Fleming said. “The time has come to take a stand against the flood of cheap knockoffs and blatant bootlegs. The vendors who sell pirated DVDs are causing huge economic losses for legitimate businesses.”
Fleming urged consumers and retailers who suspect they have uncovered content piracy to contact Pitbull via email.
“Pitbull Productions Inc. is committed to prosecuting every bootleg operation we uncover in the USA,” he said.
More information about the studio is available at PitbullProductions.com.
