Perfect 10, Inc. v. Ccbill LLC

BACKGROUND

Perfect 10 is the publisher of the eponymous adult enter- tainment magazine and the owner of the website, per- fect10.com. Perfect10.com is a subscription site where consumers pay a membership fee in order to gain access to content on the website. Perfect 10 has created approximately 5,000 images of models for display in its website and maga- zine. Many of the models in these images have signed releases assigning their rights of publicity to Perfect 10. Per- fect 10 also holds registered U.S. copyrights for these images and owns several related, registered trademark and service marks.

CWIE provides webhosting and related Internet connectiv- ity services to the owners of various websites. For a fee, CWIE provides “ping, power, and pipe,” services to their cli- ents by ensuring the “box” or server is on, ensuring power is provided to the server and connecting the client’s service or website to the Internet via a data center connection. CCBill allows consumers to use credit cards or checks to pay for sub- scriptions or memberships to e-commerce venues.

Beginning August 10, 2001, Perfect 10 sent letters and emails to CCBill and CWIE stating that CCBill and CWIE clients…