WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. - A U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge today granted a temporary injunction against Jill Kelly and Penthouse in their dispute over who owns the Kelly name and her namesake Web sites.
Judge Kathleen Thompson granted the injunction barring both sides from changing or taking control of the Web sites JillKelly.com and JillKellyStore.com until the matter is adjudicated.
An injunction hearing is scheduled for Dec. 18, where both sides will have a chance to show evidence to determine whether Kelly should be granted a permanent injunction against Penthouse.
At issue is whether the two Web sites and the name Jill Kelly are owned by Penthouse or Kelly herself. The AVN Hall of Fame member sued the Penthouse last week, seeking undetermined damages, claiming the publishing company is illegally trying to take ownership of the sites and her stage name.
In March, Penthouse acquired the assets of Jill Kelly Productions, including the company’s video library and other content for $1.7 million during a bankruptcy sale.
Robert J. Young, an attorney representing Kelly, told the judge that his client had been done irreparable harm by Penthouse which is seeking ownership of the sites and her name.
“These Web sites are her livelihood and they represent a lot to her and they can’t just take it away,” he told the judge, adding that the two sites generate between $10,000 and $15,000 per month, with Kelly receiving 50 percent of the proceeds while the other 50 percent goes to the site operator, Club Jenna Inc., a unit of Playboy Enterprises.
Young argued that the two Web sites were not outlined in the original sales documents to Penthouse and were not so much as even mentioned during sales talks.
But Penthouse attorney Steven F. Werth countered that in at least one document, the Web sites listed as one of the assets Penthouse would also acquire.
Werth also took issue with the case filing, saying Kelly should have filed her lawsuit back in March when the sale was finalized if she had an issue with Penthouse taking over her Web sites.
“The documents were there for her to see and we heard nothing,” Werth said.
But Young said the issue had only recently come up when Kelly and Penthouse were involved in talks about the possibility of working together.
Judge Thompson, however, said that neither side showed sufficient evidence to have an injunction filed in their favor and instead opted to file one against both sides, enjoining them from taking control of the Web sites.
“I’m granting this order primarily in order to protect the buyer if indeed they are entitled to these Web sites,” Thompson said.
After the hearing, Kelly said she felt Penthouse had misled her.
“They told me they weren’t interested in any of those Web sites and they wanted have me to work with them and do some projects,” she said.
“But later, they want to take everything away from me. Even my name. It was unbelievable.”
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