PornoTube and its parent firm are accused of profiting from piracy.

Vivid Entertainment Group has filed suit against Data Conversions Inc., the owners of VOD giant AEBN, for illegally posting and allowing users to post copyrighted material on the free adult website PornoTube.com.

Filed Dec. 6 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Vivid’s lawsuit claims copyright infringement, misappropriation of the right of publicity and unfair business practices. The lawsuit states that “among other things, defendants copied, published, distributed, and publicly displayed Vivid’s copyrighted works by and through the website PornoTube.com.”

uploaded to PornoTube, maintaining that as the owners of PornoTube, the North Carolina-based Data Conversions encouraged users to post this material in willful violation of Vivid's lawful copyrights. The suit notes that the law allows for damages of up to $150,000 for each copyrighted work.

Furthermore, the suit alleges, Data Conversions has failed to comply with labeling requirements under the federal 2257 record-keeping laws. Since Pornotube does not host the proper records or spend the money to meet these requirements, Vivid claims that the site owners are gaining an unfair advantage.

“This action against PornoTube is groundbreaking,” said attorney Paul Cambria, who is representing Vivid in the suit along with L.A.-based attorney Mark Hoffman. “AEBN and PornoTube are not exempt from their responsibility to comply with 2257 rules, and we will demonstrate in court that they are obtaining an unfair business advantage by violating this obligation.”