Adult DVD affiliates

[tigger]

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Hi

First posting so sorry to bring this on you, I'm a adult film affiliate and I've been reading the Prime Time court case in Erotic Trade only.

If you've not read it basically they were taken to court by the OFT for displaying an link to a European film distributor and the link was to R18 or XXX adult films, so were taken to court to court for aiding & abetting.

They were fined £27,000 and ordered to take the site/link offline and I've spoken to the guy that was taken to court and he confirmed that should you have a link to a European film site you are breaking the law.

I have also spoken to one of my affiliates and they had a meeting with a lawyer regarding this and have confirmed that I don't have any problems, but they would say this as they don't want me to pull the sites as I send volume traffic to them.

I've also spoken to another webmaster and he has read the news article and is concerned but right now is not going to pull his sites.

So does anyone have any takes on this situation ?

Tigs

[getvisible]

do you have a link to any articles on it?

Cheers,

Lee

[tigger]

nope it was in a printed trade mag, but by the looks of things quite a few UK adult webmasters get it as I've just received another email from a webmaster thats just as concerned as I am

[tigger]

and yes Lee I've spoken to vidshop and they are meeting Prime Time on moday and they are going to phone me monday as I had some very long phone calls with them on Friday, by the looks of things you could be in the same boat as me and a lot of others

[getvisible]

cheers mate. Could you post here of PM me when you know whats going on?

Surely Google would ban Adwords on adult stuff if it were illegal ??????

Ta,

Lee

[tigger]

I will be speaking to the guy on Monday from Vidshop after his meeting with PT as we are apparently not getting the full story, but after my phone call with PT on Thursday he is 100% sure if you link to Vidshop you are breaking the law and should the OFT want to they "could" prosecute you.

My sites are staying up until I receive a letter from the OFT as apparently they send a letter first giving you the option to either remove the links or face prosecution, but I've put 1000's of hours into my sites and they are not coming down - I hope

[Supercod]

If your site is produced, published and hosted in a country other than the UK, I don't think UK peps can do anything to you. So if your making loads of dosh from it jump on a Easy Jet to Amsterdam of a weekend, update your site and fly back LOL

With regards the Google Adwords thing Lee, it's a US company under US laws and we are not French so I think direct linking to the merchant via that would be safe but then I not got a clue about the law around this issue as I am not a lawyer.

[tigger]

Ok I'll assume thats a joke and as I'm new here won't bite back

[Supercod]

No it's good sound advice.. if it's illegal to do in this country buy yourself a £30 return trip to Amsterdam once a month and update your site in that country otherwise take your site down if it's breaking UK law.

But please do bite back on anything I have to say, makes the board more interesting LOL

[getvisible]

loads of work for me tomorrow then :-( I'll miss the £xxx's I do just leaving the site as it is :-(

[NaturalInstinct]

I have a copy of ETO at home and will try to scan the article tomorrow if i get time.

It stink i know but i personally would take down an adult dvd site if i owned one.

[Aquanuke]

Sorry bit off topic tigger, but is that a vidshop xml feed your using?

[tigger]

Supercod

it's where the site is controlled from, so although you could visit Amsterdam once a month if the site is controlled by a UK company you are still liable for action, if it is that my sites are breaking the law then I shall consider setting up another company in Amsterdam and transfering ownership of the domains to the new company, but this is all new grounds for me so I will need to look into this further

Getvisible

I'm not doing anything yet as I've invested way too much time into my sites to pull them down, if we are breaking the law the OFT will give you the opportunity to remove the links or face prosecution, thats when you pull the links you maybe lucky and they won't ever contact you.

I've also spoken to another affiliate (Homoactive) and they had a meeting with there solicitors Friday regarding this and they assure me we have no problems, but I shall see what Vidshop has to say Monday and at that stage decide if I should seek further legal advice.

As for missing the £xxx's I wish it was just three figures I'll lose, I'm well into 4 figures and the webmaster I spoke to on Friday is into 5 figures although it was fun talking to something I've been battling against for years on the serps

NaturalInstinct

From the ETO article yes I agree, but we also know the press do get it wrong at least I hope so, I would advise anyone that makes a good living from affiliate film sales to consider options and seek legal advice which is something I will probably do next week, but if you are only making a few hundred a month and this worrying you then pull the links

Aquanuke

Nothing dynamic on my sites bud

[drivetowin]

Sorry to be slightly OT but isnt this yet another example of Governments not understanding that the Internet is global

Also since Holland is in the EU and so are we could there not be a case that the OFT is preventing fair trade - i.e. they are stopping UK websites from making revenue which we could make if only we were not based in the UK.

[tigger]

very true, but in the same light you could also say that if they were suppling weed to the uk via an online affiliate store