Flava Works Sues It’s Own Website Members & Court Orders Injunction Against Rogue Tube Site

Published on July 29, 2011 by QueenGossip   ·   5 Comments

Back in June we reported that Flava Works had gotten very aggressive in a federal civil lawsuit they filed last Fall charging Marques Gunter with copyright infringment. This week has revealed even more thunder as Flava Works filed a new lawsuit against its own members and an injuction issued favorable to Flava Works, all centering around the alleged piracy happening on Gunter’s website, MyVidester.com

The case continued to unfold on Wednesday when Flava Works filed suit in federal court against thirteen (13) of it’s own paysite members. This mutiple defendant suit claims that the members purchased a legitimate subscription to one or more of its member sites, like Mixitupboy.com (one of 6 sites Flava Works owns) and downloaded videos and then illegally shared the videos on MyVidster.com.

The defendants (subscribers/members) named in Flava Works suit filed in a U.S. District Court in Chicago are Anton B. of Italy; Cormelian B. of Delaware; Frank E. of Georgia; Kywan F. of Virgina; Lloyd J. of Connecticut; Raymond L. of Mississippi; Steven L. of New York; Gregory N. of Georgia; Anwar Ogiste of Maryland; Andrew C. of Virgina; Latavius R. of Florida; Frank R. of New York; and Raymond S. of Texas.

Friday morning a federal court in Chicago ordered a “scathing” Preliminary Injunction against MyVidster.com and site owner Marques Gunter.

11 07 28 FW Preliminary Injunction MyVidster

Some of the terms of the Preliminary Injunction are:

· MyVidster must implement filtering of all keywords and tags of trademarks owned by Plaintiff Flava Works, Inc. to prevent the posting of copyrighted videos.   
· Adopt and reasonably implement a repeat-infringer policy with respect to the infringement of copyright.
· Expeditiously remove, or disable access to, the infringing material when a DMCA notice is received.
· Disable the accounts of users who on two or more occasions have posted content that infringes on one or more of plaintiff’s copyrights.

If Gunter fails to comply with the courts Preliminary Injunction, he will face civil contempt of court and possible criminal penalties.

“It is difficult for us to understand how defendants can argue with a straight face that they have adopted and reasonably implemented a “repeat infringer” policy.” -  US District Court – Chicago

“This is a huge win for us content producers. Gunter’s continued arrogance is astonishing and we are very pleased that the judge saw through his smokescreen and ruled in our favor.” – Flava Works’ CEO, Phillip Bleicher

CEO Phillip Bleicher has vowed to go out of his way to fight the theft of their studio’s production through agreesive lawsuits and also is calling upon the US Justice Department to invoke criminal remedies against these thefts.

Flava Works is no stranger to the courtroom having taken on the City of Miami last year in another civil lawsuit, in a case dubbed, “The House Next Door” whereby the City of Miami sought to close their live web cam shows which were being streamed from a live-in house in a residential neighborhood just off famous Biscayne Boulevard in the heart of Miami. That case has been sent back to the lower court for reconsideration after the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals partially overturned a previous order favorable to Flava Works.

Flava Works, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is owned and operated by CEO Phillip Bleicher. It began with its CocoBoyz.com website showcasing African-American men in nude and erotic photos and videos. In 2000, Flava Works started Thugboy.com and a year later expanded with the creation of the CocoDorm.com. Flava Works moved its operations to Miami, Florida, in 2006 and continues to operate a satellite office in Chicago, Illinois.

Tags: copyright, Flava Works, lawsuit, piracy