Cybernet Ventures of California runs a business called Adult Check which, in effect, sells passwords to around 300,000 porn sites on the internet. Its four million customers pay subscription fees of $20 per quarter for access to the sites. Forbes magazine estimates its annual revenue at $320 million, much of which is passed on to the affiliate sites.
Norman Zadeh, publisher of a quarterly magazine called Perfect 10, sued in a California federal court, accusing Adult Check of working with porn sites that steal his pictures for use in doctored nude-celebrity photos.
The judge ruled that the magazine could sue not only web sites that steal the image, but also Adult Check, being a web site that profited from the theft.