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This newsletter is
sent free of charge to FSC members and supporters. For
personal contact, call 1-800-476-7813.
Free Speech X-Press
Delivering Weekly Censorship Updates to the Adult Industry
Vol. VI, No. 39, August 20, 2004 -- A Member Service of the Free Speech Coalition
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Free Speech X-press is researched and edited by Kat Sunlove and Layne Winklebleck.
Copyright 2004 Free Speech Coalition. Permission to reprint granted to FSC members; please give credit.
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR FSC MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
http://www.freespeechcoalition.com
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VIDEO CONTEST! $500 PRIZE!
DEADLINE EXTENDED
Attention videographers, producers, directors and undiscovered amateurs: FSC is holding a video contest. Here’s the challenge: To create a fabulous, 10-second, Free Speech promotional video for FSC’s use on the Sony Videotron Billboard on Sunset Boulevard, a billboard that has one of the highest numbers of viewers in the nation! The video will run 250 times a day for 2 days. Our quick-thinking Board Chairman, Jeffrey J. Douglas, bid on the billboard ad space in a KCRW radio fundraiser and won!
The winning video will be awarded a $500 prize. A non-refundable entry fee of $25 is required. The deadline for submissions is September 10. Entries will be judged by a prestigious panel of five adult entertainment industry professionals.
Contact Neva Chevalier for details and contest rules. (fsc@freespeechcoalition.com – 866-372-9373)
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LEGISLATOR ASKS INDUSTRY TO SELF-REGULATE
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Assemblymember Paul Koretz, (D-West Hollywood) Chairman of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, has sent a letter to adult industry professionals calling on them to enhance the self-regulatory practices already in use within the industry by adding more stringent “harm reduction strategies,” designed to protect the health and safety of talent. While acknowledging the remarkably effective protocols in place through AIM Healthcare Foundation and their role in limiting the recent HIV outbreak within the industry, Koretz called on the entire adult entertainment community to adopt additional measures, including condom use for all non-oral penetrative sexual conduct, to minimize performers’ risk of HIV or STD infections.
FSC Executive Director and lobbyist Kat Sunlove said, “Having been engaged in discussions with Assemblymember Koretz’ office for over a year, FSC applauds the thoughtful and deliberate way in which he has approached this complex issue. We support in principle the measures which he advocates even as we recognize the challenge in achieving full compliance.”
Sunlove indicated that the Board of Directors of the industry trade group would carefully weigh the proposed harm reduction measures and would, in conjunction with FSC members and First Amendment attorneys, evaluate the proposals for inclusion in the FSC Code of Best Practices, currently in development.
“Free Speech Coalition recognizes that the non-legislative, voluntary approach outlined by Assemblymember Koretz has given our industry a window of opportunity in which to demonstrate its maturity and its willingness to work with government to protect talent from contracting life-threatening diseases that may be transmitted in the course of their jobs,” said Sunlove. “We urge all companies to join responsible members of our industry in taking these reasonable steps to protect our workers.”
From an FSC press release, 8/16/04
[See also an L.A. Times article on the Koretz letter:]
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sexfilms20aug20,1,7380370.story?coll=la-headlines-california
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ACACIA LOSES ANOTHER ROUND
WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the nation’s highest patent court, has upheld a ruling in favor of three companies -- Sony, Sharp and Toshiba -- that refused to pay royalties to Acacia Research for its V-chip patent. The companies who fought Acacia therefore owe no royalties. The companies that have already paid Acacia $26 million in V-chip royalties, however, will receive no refund.
The decision may give some comfort to the group of adult entertainment companies -- led by HomeGrown Video and represented by Fish & Richardson -- who are fighting back after being targeted by Acacia based on streaming media patents. Their suit is pending in federal court in California, with a hearing set for December 2 on motions for a summary judgment.
Acacia Research, as reported often in X-Press, does not do research. It acquires patents and then initiates actions to collect royalties, often making claims so broad that they appear far-fetched.
From Teresa Riordan, The New York Times, 8/16/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/technology/16patent.html?pagewanted=all
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“PERFECT 10” CASE DISMISSED
SAN JOSE, CA -- U.S. District Court Judge James Ware has dismissed the lawsuit by adult magazine “Perfect 10” against Visa and Mastercard. Perfect 10 owner Norm Zadeh had claimed that the credit card companies were liable for contributory violations of copyrights by knowingly providing crucial transactional support services for the sale of of stolen photos and film clips that belong to Perfect 10.
However, according to Judge Ware, the only service Visa and Mastercard supply is the ability to accept certain credit cards as payment, and this service has no apparent direct link to the alleged infringing activities.
Judge Ware’s decision is the second loss in the last two weeks for Zadeh. At the end of July, a similar lawsuit against a number of third-party processors, including CCBill and iBill, was also thrown out.
From SexBizLaw.com, 8/9/04
http://www.sexbizlaw.com/wordpress/index.php?p=7
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ARTISTS SUE DANCE CLUB FOR ROYALTIES
CLEARWATER, FL -- The rock group Creed has joined with superstar Janet Jackson and others, in a lawsuit against Diamond Dolls, an exotic dance club here which the artists claim is playing “unauthorized music,” for dancer routines.
Diamond Dolls denies the charges. But Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI) the music-publishing giant who is the lead plaintiff in the case, claims they send in researchers to monitor clubs that don’t pay a required licensing fee to BMI. When a club plays one of the 4.5 million copyrighted songs registered, BMI is ready to take legal action. BMI officials say Diamond Dolls should have paid less than $1,000 a year, and that they only sued after the club ignored repeated warnings.
From a Warner Brothers release, 8/4/04
http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0408/02a.html
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WOMEN ATHLETES CENSORED FROM MUSLIM TV
ATHENS, GREECE – More women athletes are competing than ever before in this summer’s Olympics. However, seen from much of the Islamic world, it will appear only men are participating. State-owned TV networks in many Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have received instructions to drastically limit coverage of events featuring women athletes at Athens.
A circular from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture in Tehran, for example, says: “Editors must take care to prevent viewers from being confronted [sic] with uncovered parts of the female anatomy in contests,” an edict which essentially constitutes a blanket ban on images of female athletes at the games.
Nor is the situation any better when TV networks are not involved. Last year, the Tehran Municipality presented a plan to provide sports facilities for women. A model stadium was set up with 12-foot-high walls to make sure that no one could see the women from the outside. The stadium was to operate with an all-female staff, including coaches and administrators. The plan was scrapped when critics claimed that the proposed stadium was located close enough to an airport that women in the stadium might be seen by men flying above them in jetliners and helicopters.
From Amir Taheri, The New York Post, 8/14/04
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/18656.htm
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DOES A CITY NEED MORE THAN ONE TOPLESS BAR?
MOUNT VERNON, NY -- U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon has dismissed Joseph DeFreitas’ First Amendment lawsuit against the city. DeFreitas had claimed that Mt. Vernon’s adult business ordinance so limited possible locations for adult venues that it denied the opportunity for those businesses to operate. He wanted to open a topless bar. At present there is only one topless bar in the city: Sue’s Rendezvous. Judge McMahon said that because there are sites that can be used for adult businesses, although they are presently in use as other businesses, the case boiled down to whether there are enough sites for adult entertainment in the city.
“Plaintiff himself has not offered a shred of evidence that there is great demand for additional adult-entertainment sites in Mount Vernon,” McMahon said in her decision.
From Desiree Grand, New York Journal News, 8/18/04
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/newsroom/081804/b0118mvstrip.html
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PARISH QUICK TO SEEK CLOSURE OF CLUBS
ASCENSION PARISH, LA – Two exotic dance clubs here, Cinnamin’s and Suthern Kumfort, may lose their operating licenses and be forced to close, based on the arrests of two club employees, one at each club, by the State Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. One employee was charged with prostitution, the other with obscenity. Proceedings to revoke the operating license for Suthern Kumfort have begun despite the fact that Brooke Bordelon, the employee charged with obscenity, has yet to be arraigned. Attorney Joe Long, representing Suthern Kumfort, asked the Parish Council to delay the hearing.
“We’ll have to look into that,” said Council Chairman Jerry Savoy.
Attorney Whit Cook, who represents Cinnamin’s, said he intended to request a hearing before the council this week.
From John McMillan, WBRZ-TV (Baton Rouge), 8/10/04
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/081004/new_strip001.shtml
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“DRY-HUMPING” PASSES MUSTER AT THE FCC
WASHINGTON, DC – Encouraged by recent Federal Communications Commission rulings on broadcast indecency, right-wing censorship groups are filing complaints – not always with success -- on a range of media portrayals they consider questionable. The FCC recently rejected a complaint by Arizona-based Americans that an episode of Will & Grace was indecent, because a woman passionately kissed another woman and then “humped” her (in what she called a “dry-hump”). However, the commission noted that the characters were fully clothed and that there was no evidence that the activity depicted was dwelled upon, or was used to pander, titillate, or shock the audience.
Another complaint, filed by the Parents Television Council, claimed that in the UPN show, “Buffy,” the lead characters Buffy and Spike fought with each other before engaging in sexual intercourse. In the FCC’s view, however, the scene in question was insufficiently graphic or explicit to be deemed indecent.
From SexBizLaw.com, 8/9/04
http://www.sexbizlaw.com/wordpress/index.php?p=6
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UpComing Events
AUG 31-SEPT 4 -- Gentlemen’s Club Owners Expo and Exotic Dancer Fan Fair, Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, www.ExoticDancer.com
SEPT 11-12 -- Gay Erotic Expo,
Los Angeles, 212-352-3535 x. 40
SEPT 21-22 -- Home Entertainment Retail Expo,
Baltimore, MD www.homeentertainmentevents.com
SEPT 30-OCT 2 -- Chicago Adventure & Erotic Fair
http://www.chicagoadventure.org/Chicago_Adventure_-_A_Lifestyl/chicago_adventure_-_a_lifestyl.html
OCT 10 – AdultCon, Los Angeles, CA www.adultcon.com
JAN 6-9, 2005 -- AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, Las Vegas, NV www.homeentertainmentevents.com
Subscriptions to Free Speech X-Press are FREE to FSC members. Contact us at Sunlove@direcway.com or 800-476-7813.
Kat Sunlove
Legislative Affairs Director
Free Speech Coalition
P.O. Box 907
Cool, CA 95614
530-888-1554
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