District Court: MetArt's Lawsuit Against Porn.com Can Move Forward

District Court: MetArt's Lawsuit Against Porn.com Can Move Forward

PHOENIX — An Arizona district court yesterday denied a motion by Sagan Limited and other defendants connected to Porn.com, allowing a lawsuit brought against them by Hydentra HLP Int. Limited, the parent company of MetArt and SexArt, to move forward later this month.

Senior U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell ruled yesterday in favor of Hydentra, which argued that "the remaining jurisdictional facts are intertwined with the merits of their claims."

Sagan had argued that more evidentiary hearings concerning jurisdiction were necessary.

Judge Campbell ordered the parties to "file a joint memorandum setting forth a proposed discovery and motion schedule for completing this case" on, or before, February 28.

The case dates back to May 2016, when MetArt filed a copyright infringement suit in Phoenix, alleging that Porn.com and its defendants "engaged in a practice called 'scraping,' by which entities aggregate, on their own, user information and videos from other websites, then create a facade that those users exist on their own website and upload the videos to their websites directly," XBIZ reported in 2017.

"Porn.com was alleged to have displayed four of MetArt’s movies over four separate Porn.com URLs," the  report continued. "Porn.com claimed that the poached videos were uploaded by third-party users."

In July 2017, Judge Campbell dismissed the lawsuit, granting Porn.com's owners, Sagan Ltd., their motion to dismiss and terminate the case on the issue of personal jurisdiction.

"Plaintiffs have failed to show that foreseeable harm occurred in the forum as a result of defendants’ conduct giving rise to this suit, and therefore have failed to satisfy the purposeful direction element of personal jurisdiction analysis," Campbell wrote at the time. "Plaintiffs have provided no more than bare bones assertions to support of the claim that they have operations in the U.S. or that the foreseeable harm to them in the U.S. was jurisdictionally significant."

Hydentra filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit which ruled in their favor in August 2019. The Ninth circuit determined that Judge Campbell's district court does have personal jurisdiction over Sagan, and that this also applies to all owners or operators of Porn.com. 

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

BranditScan Names Subgirl Newest Brand Ambassador

BranditScan has named content creator Subgirl its newest brand ambassador.

Arcom Reports Age Verification Enforcement Actions Against 5 Adult Sites

French media regulator Arcom released a statement Tuesday detailing recent actions to enforce age verification rules as set forth under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

Pineapple Support, Clips4Sale to Host Performers' Partners Support Group

Pineapple Support and Clips4Sale are hosting a free online support group for partners and family members of adult industry professionals.

FSC Mourns the Loss of Board Director Emeritus Mark Kernes

Free Speech Coalition has released a statement regarding the passing of Board Director Emeritus Mark Kernes.

Alexa Creed Launches New Paysite

Creator Alexa Creed has launched a new membership site through MyMember.site.

Choice Talent Management Launches Fan Platform 'ChoiceFilmz'

Choice Talent Management CEO Chris Crisco has launched a new fan platform called ChoiceFilmz.

Dredd to Launch Official Site

Dredd has announced his new website OfficialDreddXXX.com, launching April 20.

New Pleasure Product Review Site 'ToyChats' Launches

ToyChats.com, a pleasure product review and discussion site, has officially launched.

AEBN Reveals Jade Venus as Top Trans Star for Q1 of 2025

AEBN has named its top trans stars for the first quarter of 2025, with Jade Venus landing atop the leaderboard.

SexLikeReal Debuts 'AI Passthrough' for Livestreaming

SexLikeReal has introduced “AI Passthrough” for VR livestreaming.

Show More