egafd.com

Hi,

I want to get some advice from anyone that knows about the 2257 compliance regulations.

I have found out that a website is publishing material of myself to which they no longer have a contract with the production company. I had provided photo ID to the production company but the website owners do not hold this directly.

As the website does not directly have the necessary compliance information of my Photo ID can I now force them to remove this content?

Hope someone can help.

Thanks

2257 is US law.

Is the website a US site?

If not, why should they care about 2257?

(Non US producers comply re IDs etc so they can sell to US based clients).

Anyway what matters is the model release - it almost certainly said, but in legallese "we can do what we want with this stuff" and you have no rights in it thereafter.

As it happens 2257 doesn't require that secondary distributors (most webmasters) have the ID's etc, simply that their content providers warrant their availability. If the site has (or had) a permission of the production company then if the Gvt comes knocking they will simply show them the letter and send them off to the see the production company.

Whether or not they should have taken the images down when the contract ceased is a civil matter between the production company and the site, and unless you have seen that contract, you can't really comment. Even if the site is in breach, the producer might not care enough to take legal action.

If you want to control what happens to your appearences in porn, be a producer, not a performer.

Cheers

The website is being hosted in the US but the production company was here.

I have not signed any model release form? Is that what you mean?

The production company are trying to get the material taken down too but they insited I contact the website to say they cannot publish this material as they do not have my photo ID which is required for legal compliance.

Do I have any way to get this material taken down?

If they have your ids (like a passport or driving licence) they just fake your model release by filling it out anyway.

Thats if they needed to go that far.

Most producers have this on hand if they need to provide documentation which is not that often depending on where they are sliing it or selling rights to another company.

Most likely its just going to be on their site and if they claim to be the keepers of records then you will have to go through the US attorney general as he is the only person officially allowed to request this for inspection.

This means not even the police can turn up to inspect if they know their rights. They can however ask you to avoid any rigmarole and you can oblige them but for them to demand it then its the attorney general..Or so Im informed.

Okay so if they have published the content but do not have my ID can I make them remove the content?

I have tried contact the webaster and legal department of this hosting company without any response.

Any idea what my next steps would be?

You did a porn shoot for a UK pro porn company who didn't get you supply ID or sign a release?

Very strange. Was this more than 10 years ago?

You could write to the website, but I don't think I'd expect much reaction - after all, what they see is an email from some random guy who could easily be a religious nut trying to cause trouble.

If they have a document from the production company stating that 2257 is in order I think that they are legally clear. If the production company hasn't given them that document, then you should try and find out who to complain to. That's what google is for.

However the US Gvt has no duty to you and I'd guess that they don't actively chase 2257 violations unless they get lots of complaints about the same site. If the site is low profile and "normal porn" I don't rate your chances.

However if you can find questionable material on the site - lots is clearly unauthorised, perhaps underage - then you might get a law enforcement reaction.

It was a UK production company and I did provide my ID but never signed a form.

I am desperate to try and get the films of me taken off from the website though so looking at all options.

[Edited by moderator]

Sounds like a contractual balls up by all concerned.

If OEJ is right - and I'm sure he is - about the criminal side being a US Attorney issue then that's probably a waste of time - they only get involved with big issues and if you look over 18 and willing, it's not big. (S2257 is there to protect minors and the secretly filmed / home use only brigade, not the remorseful performer)

Model Release isn't a legal requirement, it's just evidence of a contract. Not having one doesn't prevent sale/publication. Having one prevents arguments, and makes sales easier.

A sells content/permission to publish to B

B does so, in good faith.

A loses rights to content.

B DOES NOT lose rights to publish (unless contract stated such rights only applied while held by A, which would be VERY unusual, OR because A never had rights in the first place).

Basically, it's a dogs dinner with you caught in the middle. I suspect there is more going on than you have been told - the production company as described certainly seems disorganised re paperwork - , and if you want to do anything about anything, you'll need to hire a US lawyer with expertise in this area.

You main problem will be to establish if you even have any standing - if your participation was legit then, in the absence of anything specific, courts will work on what is reasonable. They will probably take the view that if you willingly perform in porn then it's reasonable to assume that it will appear on various porn sites becasue that's what happens with porn.

You could spend some serious money on this, only to find that nothing changes, except that the website promotes your stuff to the Front Page and includes it in all it thumbnails and promotional vids for affiliates etc.

IMO the only way this material is likely to get removed is if the website is in breach of its contract with the producer, but that will be up to the producer to action in court. And it sounds like they don't care enough, or they would have done it.

Unless you are rich, you should probably walk away from this one.

This is what I thought.

All I know is the production company have stated the licence agreement with this website has ended last year which is why they believe the content is being illegally published.

I will contact the production company to see if they can help otherwise guess I have no legal case.

UK law states whenever a piece of work is produce it belongs to the owner. There are exceptions such as when producing for a client (i.e someone else) under contract, or a contract at a place of work that states anything you produce in company time is the companies and a few other cases.

Like Paul stated a Model Release isn't a legal requirement, it's just evidence of a contract. It could have been a verbal contract between you and the production company in the UK that you appear in an adult video.

?The production company are trying to get the material taken down too but they insisted I contact the website?... this sounds like ?The Production Company? sold the scenes to the website and the rights for the website to upload the matterial.

If think you will find it very hard to get it taken down.