HOUSTON - TVX Home Video owner, Bob Burge, told AVN that he's sure to prevail in the courts after a recent copyright lawsuit was filed against his company. Lara Jade Coton lodged the suit against TVX and two other adult distributors on Monday in U.S. District Court in Florida. Coton alleges that her image was misused on a hardcore video box cover, creating the assumption that she is involved in the adult industry.
Coton charges that her photo — which was allegedly lifted from her website and taken when she was 14 — appeared on the cover of Body Magic, a 1982 adult film, after it was recently reissued with new artwork.
"I trust my designer," said Burge. "He's a veteran of the industry and an extremely trustworthy guy."
Burge explained that the issue started last September, during the redesign process of Body Magic. "Our designer was looking on the internet for a top hat like the one Kathleen Kristel wore on the old cover. He found something in public domain and put it on the cover. We then put the new box out, with the 2257 marker on the back."
Burge said he then received a call earlier this year, from someone claiming the company had stolen her photo. "I was ready to fully cooperate, but I put her in touch with my design guy saying that he was much more familiar with all of that stuff. But at that point, I was ready to take her word for it."
Burge said he continued to get calls from the person, who would change her name and age every time. "After awhile, I started to get a little suspicious that she was playing games with me," he said. "I mean, these are the kinds of strange calls you get in this business. I thought we were being set up."
The TVX owner said that the woman claiming her image was stolen then started to send him incessant, rude e-mails asking to be compensated. "I talked to my graphic designer at that time, and he said he was getting the same e-mails.
"After that, she posted a story about us on the internet, claiming that we stole the image," Burge continued. "And her whole story implied that we're child pornographers, which is totally ridiculous. Anyone who knows me will tell you, I don't even put hardcore stuff on my box covers."
Burge said he has yet to be served with the lawsuit. "I was getting contacted by all of these news organizations, but I hadn't even been served yet. We still don't know that she is who she claims she is, and the photo of her is not even copywritten. This is an industry scam, set up to collect money from TVX."
Coton's photo has since been replaced on the box cover. "I burned all of those copies so no one could get their hands on them," said Burge. "This is an issue which, if I could have verified that the picture was of this girl and she was underage, I would have destroyed all of the copies immediately. I was on her side in the beginning."
Burge said his only trepidation about the case is, if it does go to trail, he might have the deck stacked against him in rural Florida, where the case was filed. "I don't distribute to those parts of Florida because of the conservative nature of the area. I mean, it's the adult industry…we could come up against a judge that has a real vendetta."
Burge said his lawyers are confident that they'll win any case, or get it pushed out before it goes to court.
"When I got into this case, I knew it was going to cost me a lot of money, and I might go deep in debt. But I'm an old school guy…I've been around awhile. I've dealt with a lot of challenges, and I won't let this bankrupt me, because if I declare bankruptcy, then that's defeat…and if I declare defeat, we all might as well start closing up our doors right now."
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