Oron's Assets Ordered Frozen in U.S., Hong Kong

[BrazilBoysBlog]

LAS VEGAS — A federal judge today sided with gay adult studio Corbin Fisher and has issued a temporary restraining order against file-locker site Oron.com, effectively freezing all assets of the company.

Corbin Fisher on Wednesday filed a $34.8 million copyright infringement against Oron and its operators, claiming they had knowledge and induced the trading of pirated porn on its site. The suit alleges at least 232 infringements on the site

"Plaintiff has demonstrated that defendants are engaged in allegedly fraudulent transfers that may impinge on the court’s ability to issue effective equitable relief," said the order signed by U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro.

Named in the suit is parent company FF Magnat Ltd. and owner Maxim Bochenko, who also goes by the name Roman Romanov, as well as 500 John Does

With Navarro's order, all bank accounts held by FF Magnat, Oron.com and Bochenko have been frozen until a hearing slated for July 3.

PayPal, AlertPay and CCBill also have been ordered to freeze all Oron accounts, and VeriSign has been ordered to freeze the Oron.com domain name from any transfers.

"All defendants are hereby enjoined from disgorging or dissipating any funds, property, domain names, or other assets until further notice," Navarro said.

Concurrently, Corbin Fisher served Oron's parent company in Hong Kong, FF Magnat Ltd., with a legally binding injunction prohibiting disposal of assets in Hong Kong.

In the Hong Kong order, Oron operators have been enjoined from disposing or diminishing in value of its assets up to $3 million.

The Hong Kong High Court order, in effect until July 6, also freezes assets in an HSBC bank account, as well as others.

In the suit filed at U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Corbin Fisher seeks impoundment of infringing content and damages, as well as attorneys fees.

Attorney Marc Randazza, who represents Corbin Fisher, told XBIZ that his firm worked with Porn Guardian for about a year to set up the case.

"The evidence packages they gave us enabled us to use accounting, physical downloads and screenshots as a significant cornerstone of our case," Randazza said. "Moreover, because their solution relies on human categorization of the piracy they find online, there is no question about the accuracy of the infringements they found.

"It really helps that Porn Guardian gave us a view of how huge the Oron problem was for so many companies in the industry. The bird's eye view they have casts a much stronger light on the magnitude of the problem."

UPDATED (June 25, 11:30 a.m.):

Defendants have been ordered to preserve evidence and not permitted to toss any information that appears "reasonably calculated to lead to discovery" of admissible evidence.

The court specifically noted communications with Network Solutions, Yahoo, Google, CCBill, AlertPay and other accounts.

"Defendants shall restore any business records that they have deleted since the time that negotiations between plaintiff and defendants commenced on May 30, 2012," the order said.

 

[BrazilBoysBlog]

Corbin Fisher Hits Oron With $34.8M Infringement Suit

LAS VEGAS — Gay adult studio Corbin Fisher yesterday filed a $34.8 million copyright infringement against Oron and its operators, claiming the file locker site is cognizant of its role as a swap meet for pirated porn.

The suit alleges at least 232 infringements of Corbin Fisher works were found on the site, which is ranked No. 935 for traffic, according to Alexa.

"Oron is not a legitimate file storage company and has no such characteristics," the suit says. "Its website is a pornographic website which showcases images of an erotic nature to users of any age.

"Oron is cognizant of its role as the vehicle in which infringers act in concert with one another to copy and distribute huge amounts of infringing material."

Named in the suit is parent company FF Magnat Ltd. and owner Maxim Bochenko, who also goes by the name Roman Romanov, as well as 500 John Does.

Bochenko, the suit says, is the "guiding force behind Oron.com and is accused of being equally responsible for any and all offenses by Oron.com."

Corbin Fisher, calling Oron a "foreign defendant" in the suit, noted personal jurisdiction is proper because most of the posting of the stolen content took place in the U.S. and that the majority of the stolen content distributed by Oron originates from the U.S.

Corbin Fisher further noted Oron's numerous ties to activity in the U.S., including that it utilizes domain name registrars in Virginia and Pennsylvania and does business with an Arizona-based payment processor. Bochenko also is a a resident of Jacksonville, Fla., and Golden, Colo.

"Oron has availed itself of the privilege of doing business in the U.S., and it is properly subject to jurisdiction in any federal court," the suit said.

Corbin Fisher goes on to say in the suit that the file-sharing site only recently registered its DMCA agent and can't claim its immune from infringement claims as a web host.

"Normally, a web hosting company takes advantage of the “safe harbor” provisions of the DMCA 17 U.S.C. § 512, and would not become a defendant in this cause of action," the suit said. "During the period of most of the complained of infringements, Oron did not have a registered DMCA agent. It is not entitled to the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions for the complained of infringements. Oron registered their DMCA agent on June 15, 2011."

Corbin Fisher seeks an injunction over the defendants restraining the them from further acts, impoundment of infringing content, and damages, as well as attorneys fees.

The suit also asks the court to freeze the company's assets, including its domain name and funds in accounts at PayPal and CCBill, and to appoint a receiver to take possession of defendants' assets.

"This remedy is appropriate to ensure that the Defendants are not able to finish out their bad
faith fraudulent transfer scheme," the suit said. "The defendants have engaged in extreme conduct, involving millions of dollars in damages.

"If the Copyright Act is to mean anything, it should mean that such schemes do not provide a source of profit for the cyber criminals who engage in them. The defendants see the writing on the wall: The defendants infringed upon copyrighted works for profit and have been caught. The elements of copyright infringement have been shown, and no affirmative defenses are likely to prevail."

Adult industry attorney, Marc Randazza, Corbin Fisher's counsel in the case, did not immediately respond to an XBIZ request for comment. XBIZ was unable to reach Bochenko by post time.

 

[BrazilBoysBlog]

Corbin Fisher: Oron's $375K Request 'Impermissibly Vague'

LAS VEGAS — Corbin Fisher is challenging Oron's need for the release of $375,000 in frozen company funds, saying there is "stark absence" of details in the request.

"Defendants have fallen far short of their burden to establish the need and propriety for the court to release funds for their legal and business expenses," Corbin Fisher counsel said today in opposition to Oron's emergency motion.

Oron attorneys, in defense of Corbin Fisher's $34.8 million copyright infringement suit, today asked a federal judge to partially lift a temporary restraining order so that it can transfer $375,000 to a trust fund. The $375,000, which would come from its PayPal account, would be used for legal fees and business expenses to keep the file-trading site afloat.

Corbin Fisher attorneys, wasting no time, filed its opposition to the request, saying that Oron's emergency motion to release the funds is fatally flawed because it lacks specific information including attorneys fees or stated business costs and that the court should reject it.

Corbin Fisher called the request "impermissibly vague and cloaked in the unmistakable aroma of fraud."

"In order for this court to engage in adequate analysis of what funds (if any) are to be released from the injunction, the defendant must provide the court a full accounting of its assets — including its incoming revenue," an opposition to the motion said. "Oron’s request for a release of $375,000 must be denied unless it provides a complete and full accounting of its assets are made to the court."

Corbin Fisher also said it is unreasonable for Oron to demand the withdrawal when, according to Oron’s counsel, the amount is purportedly very close to Oron’s value as a going concern.

"Specifically, Oron’s counsel represented that a settlement demand of $500,000 was 'an unreasonable amount' to the defendants and 'more than the company itself was worth' in previous discussions," the opposition said. "In this situation, the court is justified in exercising its discretion to deny Oron’s request, as allowing it to withdraw $375,000 would, by the defendants’ own admission, nearly completely dissipate – if not eliminate altogether – the funds available to compensate [Corbin Fisher] for its losses."

In its opposition to Oron's emergency motion, Corbin Fisher counsel said Oron’s funds are all the proceeds of an illegal enterprise containing child pornography and that they intend to present evidence to support the claim.

"[Corbin Fisher] intends to present a witness who can testify to the fact that Oron.com, with its promises of anonymity for its users, is a repository for child pornography, as well as infringing content," the latest filing said.

"[Oron] owns and operates indexes of this material on ForumOphilia.com and PornBB.org. Accordingly, Oron has filled its coffers with at least $5 million in ill-gotten gains derived from monetizing wholesale copyright infringement and the distribution of illegal child pornography."

Corbin Fisher last week sued Oron and other defendants, alleging they had knowledge of and induced the trading of pirated porn on its site.

Shortly after the suit was filed, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro ordered Oron's bank accounts frozen until a July 3 hearing.

PayPal, AlertPay and CCBill were ordered to freeze Oron accounts; VeriSign also was ordered to freeze the Oron.com domain name from any transfers.

In addition, Navarro ordered Oron to preserve and restore financial doents key to the case.

At the same time, Corbin Fisher served Oron in Hong Kong with an injunction prohibiting disposal of assets in Hong Kong.

In the Hong Kong order, Oron operators were enjoined from disposing or diminishing in value of its assets up to $3 million.

 

[hammervice]

http://www.gayheaven.org/t280469-is-oron-next.html