AICO members Fraserside Holdings Ltd (part of the Private Group) and leading Australian adult filmdistributor Calvista Australia Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of Adultshop.com Ltd) are expected to claim over$300,000 in damages, interest and costs following the dismissal of an appeal against them by the Full Bench of the Federal Court. At least $193,000 of this amount is fully secured by a Bank Guarantee Venus Adult Shops Pty Ltd was forced to provide as collateral as a condition of their, now failed, appeal.

The Full Bench of the Federal Court, on 28 March 2007, dismissed the application by Venus Adult Shops Pty Ltd, Tropher Installations Pty Ltd, Allan George Vassallo and Gerry Gordon (Venus) to reopen their failed appeal against Fraserside Holdings Ltd and Calvista Australia Pty Ltd.

The Court also ordered that cost of the motion be paid to Calvista and that the original Judgment of the full Bench be entered forthwith.

Venus, in what has now proved to be a futile move, had applied to reopen their appeal in which Judgement had been given on 20 December 2006. In that decision the Court rejected 10 out of 11 grounds, with the 11th resulting in a $10,600 reduction in damages, and upheld all major legal principles raised in the case.

The Federal Magistrates Court Judgement of 18 August 2005 found that Venus had flagrantly infringed the copyright of Fraserside Ltd and their exclusive Australian distributor Calvista Australia Pty Ltd.

AICO Executive Officer Graeme Dunne said, “This latest Judgement continues to vindicate our enforcement programme and uphold the copyright of AICO’s members. Adult film pirates should understand that this decision gives AICO’s members added confidence in all current and future piracy matters.”

In what has been a good week for AICO members, Summary Judgement has been obtained in the Federal Magistrates Court against the corporate respondents in the Digital Sinema case for breach of copyright of certain AICO member studios’ films and the breach of confidence in regard to Calvista Australia Pty Ltd’s client mailing list.

The Court made a significant and unambiguous comment on the future prospects of the often toutedillegality defence. Federal Magistrate Driver said “…I disregard the attempt by the respondents [Digital Sinema] to rely upon the illegality of the trade in X rated films outside the ACT and the Northern Territory

… That defence is untenable in the light of the Full Federal Court judgement ...”. The matter resumes on Monday, 2 April 2007.

For further information contact Graeme Dunne at AICO on:(ph) 02 9328 5527 (mob) 0413 222 142 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   www.aico.org.au