PornTube is a YouTube look-a-like for X-rated content, that has been sharing porn videos on the Web for quite some time. Now a major adult entertainment producer Vidid has sued them for making profit by illegally distributing copyrighted material. PornTube shares the problem of YouTube, by letting users submit videos to the service. Unfortunately the amount of submitted content is huge, so it is almost an impossible task to filter out all of the copyrighted content from legit ones.

The suit is apparently the first of its kind in the adult film industry, which has done a better job than the major Hollywood studios in finding ways to profit from putting entertainment products on the Internet.

But in the last year or so, the rapid increase in consumption of all manner of videos on the Web has in some ways hurt the porn producers more than the mainstream companies because consumers of adult fare often get what they are looking for in clips of five minutes or less. Free short clips are easy to find on the Web, undercutting the established porn producers, which earn most of their money from long-form videos.

"We've decided to take a stand and say 'no more,' " Vivid co-Chairman Steven Hirsch said. "We will go after all the free sites."

Source: Los Angeles Times