XPays Announces Deal Giving It Exclusive Affiliate Rights to Distribute Paris Hilton Video on the Internet

The online marketing saga of the Paris Hilton sex tape has just made another significant advance, one that could ultimately ensure the now infamous celebrity sex video 1st Prize as the most downloaded in history.

XPays , an established adult Internet company, has announced that it has entered into an exclusive contract with TrustFundGirls.com et al. for the rights to promote the tape through its online affiliate program. According to Evan, co-owner with Michael of XPays, the deal allows XPays to enter into arrangements with Webmasters to share in the profits from sales of the Digital Rights Managed video by sending traffic through XPays to the trustfundgirls.com Website, where the video can be downloaded. Once downloaded and payment of $50 is secured, prospective viewers will receive a license that allows them to view the video 5 times over 5 days, whichever comes first, and only on the same computer. The embedded DRM will also protect and enable tracking of the digital video across P2P file-sharing networks.

Evan told avn.com that XPays will pay Webmasters a percentage of gross sales plus a referral fee, and that payment will remain in the form of a percentage rather than a fluctuating dollar amount, as the price charged for viewing the tape will inevitably vary. “The mainstream interest in TrustFundGirls.com and the modern delivery method of the product should result in a high volume sales for XPays webmaster clients,” Evan told avn.com. “Webmasters will be notified of the launch of the DRM in XPays by email first and should signup at http://XPays.com now. As always, all commerce referred by XPays webmaster clients is tracked throughout the XPays system. Webmasters will get paid for the exits, email addresses, phone sex, sex toy sales and more. Check out http://XPays.com/trustfundgirls .”

Regarding the issue of unauthorized sales and proliferation of the video over the Internet, Evan responded, “XPays Inc believes that one of the things that makes America great is intellectual property law. Our constitution protects the intellectual property rights held by TrustFundGirls.com, and XPays believes TrustFundGirls.com will enforce their rights aggressively to ensure that all commerce resultant from their intellectual property is sanctioned.”

When asked whether he was concerned that Paris Hilton might come after XPays as she had another Website that was preparing to offer the tape for sale, and after Rick Salomon himself, he responded, “XPays is quite confident that we are not putting our heads on the chopping block.” When asked whether XPays would be complying with, and require its affiliates to comply with, U.S.C. 2257 Federal labeling requirements, he replied,“Of course XPays will comply with U.S.C. 2257 requirements.”

Evan expressed confidence in the ability of DRM technology to protect the integrity of the tape from unauthorized viewing, as well as its potential as a robust business model. “I see DRM technology as a very powerful alternative to the standard industry pay site model,” he told avn.com, “and am actively acquiring licensing rights to expand the DRM revenue sharing options at XPays Inc.”

Avn.com also spoke Sunday morning with Jim Salomon (the brother of Rick Salomon, who shot and performs in the video with ex-girlfriend Paris). He called from Europe, where he lives and where the trustfundgirls.com Website is located. He confirmed the “very recent” deal with XPays, saying that he had given it the exclusive right to offer the tape through an affiliate structure. “His is the only entity that I have an affiliate deal with,” he said, referring to Evan’s company. He added that the deal covers only that traffic that comes to trustfundgirls.com through XPays. “If a person comes right to our site,” he said, “that [sale] will be outside the deal with XPays.”

Salomon said that there are other corporate entities involved in the dissemination of the tape whose affiliations are different from the “affiliate program” deal, that have enabled the video to be disseminated from 17 jurisdictions on 3 continents – Europe, South America and Asia. Salomon added, “This of course does not preclude XPays from working with foreign Webmasters.”

Jim stated that he does in fact retain all right to the videos (“I have the rights to them”), adding that the 38-minute version available on his site is actually a compilation made by him from “multiple tapes shot at different times, but proximate [in time] to one another.” He added that he has “unequivocal evidence” that all the tapes were made when Paris Hilton was an adult, and added when asked about recent speculation that the woman is not Paris, “it’s definitely her” in each section of the tape. “Sure, you could find a look-alike,” he said, “but to find someone with her personality, like in the bathroom section – nobody could do that.” Besides, he added, Paris Hilton has never denied that it was she in the tapes, and why would she have sued to prevent the tape’s release if it weren’t.

“I’m not worried about being sued by either [my brother] Rick or Paris Hilton,” Salomon said, stressing that he has a good relationship with his brother. He declined to discuss how exactly he came into possession of the tape in the first place, but said, “there are only two humans – Rick Salomon and Paris Hilton – in the whole tape. I contend that they are the only two people who had a claim to this tape at all.” He added, because he has also now been granted intellectual property rights to the tape, “there is a legal argument that says that Rick, Paris or I could go after [people who pirate this video].”

Salomon said that the Digital Rights Management (DRM) embedded in the downloaded versions was his, but that it would convey all tracking information to both he and XPays. Within file-sharing networks, he said people will be able to share the Paris file at will, but they will still need the license to view it, and the DRM will track and convey any and all attempted manipulations of the product.

We asked how many people have downloaded the video from his Website he declined to answer specifically, but did say, “There have been times when we were doing hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of megabytes of data transfer per second. In fact, I have been told that it appears that at times trustfundgirls.com was transferring more data as measured in megabytes per second than any other Website on planet Earth except for major ISPs like AOL or Yahoo.”

Enough, one might conclude, to make a mother proud. One can only guess what this exclusive new deal with XPays will bring