An Adult Web site inspired by the NBC reality show Fear Factor was hit with a cease-and-desist letter via email from the show’s attorneys December 13.
FearFactorPorn.com sports colors and logos strikingly similar to those of the Endemol-produced mainstream show. The only difference appears to be the word “Fuck,” which is added to the end of the Fear Factor Porn logo.
Rick Prag, the president of FearFactorPorn.com parent Redslip, said he knew from the beginning that he was likely to run into problems with his site.
“It’s been sooner than I expected – it’s only been two weeks [since the site launched]. We did kind of use their name and logo, but I guess somebody out there is looking for this stuff,” Prag told AVNOnline.com.
“I expected a little bit of publicity and I’m going to take it and run with it for a week or two if I can. In the end I’ll probably have to change it, but we have great original content that I believe in and there’s nothing out there like it.”
Endemol’s lawyers, from the Beverly Hills firm of Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Sloane and Richman, accused Redslip of copyright infringement, trademark infringement, misappropriation, and other violations in the cease-and-desist letter, which called for immediate compliance by the company.
With the threat of litigation usually comes fear, and this one is no different. FearFactorPorn.com affiliates and partners who host Fear Factor Fuck trailers on their servers are worried. Prag has been receiving calls from said parties and is in the process of deciding what approach to take, although he said he’s most likely to just change the logo and name of the site.
Unfortunately, the Fear Factor Fuck logo is not only part of the Web site, but also on its video clips and photos. Prag said the process of changing them all would likely take two weeks at the least.
“I’m still debating on a new theme,” he said. “I’m sort of riding on the coattails of the whole Fear Factor thing, but that’s what the site is. If you look at the content, we’re doing a porn version of Fear Factor. It seems appropriate.”
A message left at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Sloane and Richman seeking comment was unreturned.
