Australia’s Adult Industry Copyright Organisation scored a victory Monday when a judge approved an injunction against two alleged DVD pirates, effectively barring them from importing or distributing DVDs.
The court order, which is part of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by AICO, bars Jim Karakikes and his companies, Digital Sinemapty. Ltd. and Digital Sinema Australia Pty. Ltd, from doing business without a license and from importing or distributing videos from companies who are members of AICO, the organization said.
The action bars Karakikes and his companies from importing and distributing without permission titles from Vivid Entertainment, Wicked Pictures, Colossal Films, Acid Rain, Falcon, Titan, Red Light District and Zero Tolerance who are AICO members and plaintiffs in the case.
The industry group alleges that Karakikes, also known as Jim Karas, and Digital Sinema have been running an adult DVD mail order catalogue using a Darwin post office box address and an adult DVD Web site to distribute alleged counterfeit videos.
In a statement, AICO said the legal action comes after it conducted an investigation into Karakikes and his companies on behalf of its studio members and their Australian distributors, Calvista Australia, Gallery Entertainment and Greenwich Technologies.
Another court hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 19.
The group also filed a similar suit against Venus Adult Shops Pty. Ltd., Tropher Installations Pty. Ltd. and directors George Allan Vassallo, Jerry Gordon and Phillip Deprima. Venus operates a chain of adult stores under the name Venus Adult Shops in Blacktown, Mt. Druitt and Katoomba in New South Wales province.
“This is a significant step in the fight against adult film piracy in Australia,” said Graeme Dunne, AICO’s executive officer, earlier this year.
It was just last July that the group celebrated a victory against video pirates when a judge ruled against Venus Adult Shops and Tropher Installations in a similar copyright infringement case. The companies were ordered to pay $150,000 in damages and about $100,000 additional costs and damages over the illegal copying and distribution of adult films produced by Private Media Group.
Established three years ago by the adult industry when video piracy was at its worst in Australia, AICO began making headway through the courts against suspected pirates. Although it didn’t win its cases at first, the group began making political inroads.
“Judges began to see that the adult industry was hurt by piracy,” said David Newnham, AICO board member and general manager of Calvista Australia.
