Girl Whose Photo Was Stolen And Used For Porn DVD Sues
Remember Lara, whose self-portrait was stolen from deviantART and used as the cover of a porn DVD? Yeah, she's suing the shady pornographers.
Good for Lara.
You can read the entire complaint on The Smoking Gun, but here's the best part:
"
Apparently, merely ridiculing Lara Jade was no longer satisfying so Burge [that's the pornographer] and TVX felt the need to accuse Lara Jade of "scheming," by which Burge presumably meant to suggest that Lara Jade, a teenager in England, had intentionally allowed her creative work to be placed on the internet in the hope that it would be stolen by a pornographic video manufacturer in Texas and used as the cover of a re-packaged 1970's era pornographic movie so she could then locate the Texas-based pornographer in the hope of extracting compensation from it. The absurdity of this notion is readily apparent."
Lara's lawyer is awesome.
Teen Sues Over XXX-Video "Debut" (NSFW) [Smoking Gun]
PREVIOUSLY: Lara is NOT a Porn Star
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As a photographer my self and a long time member of the DeviantART community I strongly agree. Using other photographers work without permission or lenience is stealing. Wait a second, I download mp3s...
Don't trust Firefox's spell check. I meant license not lenience.
Wow, that's quite a "scheme" she successfully pulled off.
I have posted many pictures of myself online and none of them have ever been stolen for a porn cover to my knowledge.
chicks have all the luck.
Good for her. I was wonder whatever happened to this case. If ever there was a person who could sue over her art work being stolen via the internet, this was it. Please keep us posted consumerist.
isnt it illegal to put a 14yr old's picture on the cover of a porn movie???
"Lara Jade Coton, 18, charges that her photo--which was taken when she was just 14--has appeared on the cover of "Body Magic," a 1982 film that was recently reissued."
@Kezzerxir
Do you download mp3s and then sell them as your own work?
If I remember correctly from the original post, Burge's use of grammar in his e-mail responses was a true testament to how easily the poor unwitting pornographer could fall victim to such a wonderfully orchestrated "scheme"...
I like how the idiot blatantly admits to stealing her photo in his "defense"...
Seriously, though - is chemical castration an acceptable judgment in a civil suit? If not, I see the chance for a new legal precedent...
By "chemical", I mean throwing boiling acid on his junk...
one of my first posts here on Consumerist was me comment on the viability of this lawsuit.
and as with most of my legal opinions... the comment attracted a veritable army of attorneys-at-LOL to explain tort law to me. ;)
@Kezzerxir: actually, i am a photographer myself, as well as a longtime member of deviantart. ironically, this article reminded me that i still have a deviantart page, which i just more or less dismantled, putting all my deviations into storage. not because of this, mind you. i just don't ever check it anymore, and haven't been happy with the community nor the administration in a while.
not like i was ever popular enough there to have my stuff stolen. :P
Okay kids, this is why you watermark things you put up on DeviantART
Good for her! Having your art stolen and used for profit would be bad enough, but to be only 14 yrs old and unwillingly put on the cover of a porn video? Ewwww...
@WolfDemon: Just to clear some things up, she did put a watermark on her deviantART work. The porn company removed the watermark(it was on her black dress and fairly easy to do, I guess).
The porn company is breaking the law a bunch of different ways. Using a 14 yearold, using artwork without permission, being a dick when she contacted them to stop selling it.
Yawn, though I have a feeling she'll loose. We'll see.
@Major-General: Loose what? A barrage of litigation? A catapult of evidence into the judge's face?
Go back to bed and think on it some more. You sound tired.
@kingofmars: Not only that, DeviantART has a "you don't steal artwork" policy so that not only can the kid sue, DA can also sue for a TOS violation.
Bah. I was sort of hoping she would grow into this whole situation and start doing porn.
Good. for. her. And I hope some self-righteous DA gets interested in the civil case and starts a criminal investigation. Even if it doesn't result in charges. :)
i remember when this story was first posted and she wasn't sure about finding a lawyer and what not, good to see that she got someone (lawyer) who filed suit. that whole story really bothered me. i can only hope that she gets a sizable judgment out of this.
@Eyebrows McGee: I'm not sure if criminal charges will stick. Even though the photo is of a 14-year-old girl, the cover/DVD is not depicting her nude, engaged in sexual acts, etc. Now, if the title of the DVD was "Almost Legal" or "First Time" or anything that would have suggested that the subject matter involved an under-age participant, then criminal charges might be possible.
Still, it wouldn't hurt for her counsel to talk to the DA. A conviction would actually help the civil case...
In addition to the monentary compensation what about a good old fashioned beating? "This court fines for the plantiff. Balifs, take him out back and kick the shit out of him."
I had a photo stolen off of Flickr to hype a "JEANS & STILETTO SATURDAY'S" sports-bar booty party. Found one of the ad cards in the gutter while walking home from work.
hah, good for her! also, biting sarcasm in the form a lawsuit is sexier than anything that might be found under that stolen cover.