Sex Sells: US News 2007

25th December		Fairs Fair...

	Chicago stripped of discriminatory tax take
	From X Biz see full article
	A state appellate court has ruled that Chicago and Cook County cannot collect amusement taxes from an exotic dance club when other small venues are exempt from the tax. The 1st District Appellate Court in Chicago wrote that although the city and county had exempted other small, live performance venues from paying the tax, it had not exempted clubs with nude dancing, which was content-based regulations on speech that do not serve a compelling state interest and, therefore, violate the 1st Amendment." The city of Chicago and Cook County passed ordinances in 1999 that exempt small venues from paying the city tax of 8% on tickets and the county's tax of 3%. The exemptions, which specifically did not include "adult entertainment cabarets," were intended to assist music clubs and theaters that hold fewer than 750 people. Pooh-Bah Enterprises Inc., owner of the Crazy Horse Too club, filed suit against the city and county in 2001 claiming the ordinances were unconstitutional because they singled out strip clubs based on the content of the entertainment offered. A trial judge ruled for the city and county in 2005, but Friday's appeals court ruling reversed that decision.

25th December

Fairs Unfair...

Texas allowed discriminatory tax take

From X Biz see full article

Attempts to block a state-imposed $5 fee on Texas gentlemen's club admissions � slated to go into effect Jan. 1 � so far have failed.

District Judge Scott Jenkins refused to block the tax from going into effect, paving the way for a lawsuit that seeks to prove the unconstitutionality of the tariff, which plaintiffs contend is discriminatory, suppresses their right to free speech and endangers the survival of many affected businesses.

The tax initiative is intended by officials to raise an estimated $50 million annually.

A trial date is expected to be set after Jenkins rules on the plaintiffs� legal standing and ability to sue the state.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and state Comptroller Susan Combs submitted a legal brief to the court, stating that the fee does not prohibit nude dancing, does not dictate where live nude entertainment may be presented, does not require any minimum clothing and does not govern the physical setting for the activity.

Even though the state does not specify how the $5-per-customer fee should be collected, most club owners are expected to collect it as part of a cover charge.

23rd December

Free For All...

American porn industry battles YouPorn

From the Observer see full article

America's adult entertainment workers claim their $13bn industry is in trouble. Sales are down by as much as half as customers learn that what they once paid for can now be free. Pirated pornography is flooding the internet while thousands of 'amateurs' post their activities on websites such as YouPorn.

Last week, Vivid Video, one of the largest porn studios, took legal action against Pornotube, a website the company claims is depriving the industry and its performers of legitimate revenue by allowing the streaming of copyrighted material.

According to surveys, sites such as YouPorn and Pornotube draw more internet traffic than CNN. Like YouTube, the phenomenally popular, Google-owned website, X-rated sites depend on users streaming videos to the site - and YouPorn is adding 15 million new users a month.

The adult entertainment industry is starting to get aggressive, says Farley Cahen, an editor at Adult Video News. The problem is that more and more people are finding out about these sites and that they can get this free content.

After a decade of double-digit growth, the porn industry is seeing sales of DVDs, its biggest money-maker, slip. Last year, total sales were down 15%. The industry says it is laying off workers.

16th December

Love Ranch...

Helen Mirren to make film supporting legal brothels

From PR-Inside see full article

Helen Mirren is using her directorial debut to push for legalised prostitution across America and Britain.

The actress will direct and star in Love Ranch, playing the madame of Nevada's first legalised brothel.

And the Oscar winner insists the film carries an important message: Legalised prostution is not such a bad idea. It gets girls off the street, away from pimps and drugs.

10th December

Alabama's Cold Shower...

Wake up call over sex toy ban

From X Biz see full article

An Alabama legislator has filed a bill to revoke the state's ban on the sale of sex toys, the second he has filed since the law's inception in 1998.

Representative John Rogers told the Birmingham News that the law is unconstitutional and embarrassing to the state: A shower head could be considered a sex toy. It's just bringing the state into the 20th century."

This is the same law that adult shop owner Sherri Williams has spent a decade fighting. Despite losing the battle in October. Though the U.S. Supreme Court refused in October to hear Williams' case, seemingly ending the fight and making selling sex toys officially illegal in the state, a circuit court recently deemed the law too vague after an attempt to shut down an adult store, opening the issue up for debate.

I intend to pass this bill this year, Rogers said. I want it to be one of the first bills on the calendar. The bill reportedly may be discussed Feb. 5.

30th October

Small Ads Large Implications

Orlando Newspaper done for escort small ads

From X Biz see full article

The arrest of three employees of the Orlando Weekly on charges of aiding and abetting prostitution could have implications for escort sites and other websites that carry classified and personal ads, according to an adult industry attorney.

This case raises some significant 1st Amendment concerns, attorney Lawrence Walters told XBIZ. We�re talking about the government agency effectively shutting down a newspaper that was critical of its activities. There may be some extenuating circumstances in this case, depending on how the facts play out. But the prospect of a special law enforcement task force taking newspaper employees into custody on racketeering charges based on the content of its advertising is antithetical to the precepts of the free speech guarantee.

Walters added that it was important to remember that advertising is considered commercial speech, which means that it is protected under the 1st Amendment, just as the rest of the Weekly�s content is covered: If the government is successful here, the implications are particularly chilling for similar media outlets. Will newspapers across the country now be required to conduct background investigations into their advertisers, to ensure that they�re not involved in any untoward activity?

The potential impact of the case on websites like CraigsList.org also is uncertain, Walters said: While these sites enjoy greater protection against civil liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, that provision does not appear to limit exposure to criminal prosecution. So the basic approach that [Orlando�s Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation] is using might be utilized in the online realm, if a conviction ensues in the Orlando Weekly case.

The arrests of the Weekly employees took place Oct. 19 at a job fair held at the Orlando Marriott Hotel. Officers from Orlando�s MBI arrested the newspaper�s classified ads director and two account executives following what was reportedly a two-year sting operation dubbed �Operation Weekly Shame.�

In the course of the sting, officers for the MBI reportedly posed as prostitutes interested in purchasing ads in the Weekly, and made it known to the representatives that fielded their advertising requests that the ads were for the purposes of furthering prostitution.

Rick Schreiber, publisher of the Orlando Weekly, staunchly defended his publication and his employees, and asserted that the arrests were made as a form of payback for negative coverage of the MBI that the Orlando Weekly has carried over the years.

8th November

Update:

No Escort Ads in New York...

Nutters get adverts removed from magazines

Based on an article from Google News see full article

New York magazine agreed to stop accepting sex ads after the nutters of the National Organization for Women threatened protests outside the popular weekly publication.

The women's rights group had accused New York of being a "marketing arm of the organized crime world of prostitution and human trafficking" because of classified ads at the back of the magazine with such tag lines as "Asians Gone Wild" and "Asian Dreamgirls."

Sonia Ossorio, president of the local NOW chapter, said she was "delighted" by the magazine's decision.

The chapter has been asking other local media to stop taking the ads and said it has won agreements to do so from 14 other publications including Time Out New York and New York Press.

24th November		Freedom Wasteland

	Separating Young Adults from Adults in Alaska
	From AVN see full article
	A federal judge has ruled against a strip-club owner, permanently prohibiting contact between dancers and patrons in Anchorage strip clubs that cater to people under the age of 21. According to a recent report, two years ago the city passed a new law restricting said clubs, including prohibiting direct contact with dancers, as well as requiring clubs that have over and under 21 sections to fully separate them, including from view. The owners of one of the clubs affected by the new law - Fantasies - resisted and appealed the ordinance, claiming it imposed on the first amendment rights of the dancers. According to a KTUU report, Carol Hartman, co-owner of Fantasies, said the ruling will put the club out of business.

8th November		Staunchly Nutter

	Prosecutor targets Virginia adult video store
	Based on an article from News Leader see full article
	A Staunton grand jury indicted a Virginia man and his company on 16 felony obscenity charges concerning adult videos that were sold in October at After Hours Video, according to Staunton's nutter Prosecutor, Raymond Robertson. The six-person grand jury spent a morning viewing parts of 12 videos bought at the Springhill Road video store. Owner Rick E. Krial is charged with eight felony and four misdemeanor counts of selling obscene videos. Krial's company, LSP of Virginia, LLC, was hit with identical charges. Krial said he canvassed Staunton prior to opening After Hours Video and purchased adult videos at a number of stores. I did my homework, he said. Since then, he said those same stores have yanked their adult selections in the wake of the controversy surrounding the opening of his store. Krial, the owner of 12 adult businesses in Virginia and Maryland, said in the past he has caught flak from communities but has never been criminally charged in connection with video sales. He labeled the Staunton indictments as "ludicrous." The opening of Krial's Staunton business on Oct. 7 has spawned the Citizens' Task Force Against Pornography and also generated a petition drive supporting After Hours Video. Krial said more than 800 people had signed the petition that's being circulated at the Springhill Road store. Rick Hudson, a free-speech expert and an attorney with the First Amendment Center in Nashville, said Robertson will have a tough time making the obscenity charges stick. Update: Repression Zone 17th November 2007 The Staunton City Council unanimously passed a pair of ordinances restricting the location of adult businesses in the city and establishing the permits each must have to operate. Adult businesses will have to locate in areas zoned for light industry, and will have to be at least 500 feet from churches, schools, residences and day care centers. Applicants for such businesses must pass a background check and pay a $300 application fee. The license must be renewed annually.

3rd November		Dildos in Jackson

	Police arrest men for selling sex toys
	From WAPT see full article
	Two men charged with selling sex toys were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi. Police conducted an undercover sting at Adult Video and Books. James Saulters and Jayson Paige were arrested at the shop. They don't leave here and rape nobody. They don't leave here and rob no banks, Paige said of the customers who buy the toys. Selling sex toys is illegal in Jackson. Police said they've gotten complaints from residents who said they heard radio ads about the sex toys. They still doing the same thing over and over again, just blatant violations; even advertising it, small minded Sgt. William Gladney said. Update: Persecuted by Dildos 8th November 2007 Trial has been set for Jan. 8 for two men arrested Oct. 24 at the Adult Video and Books Store in Jackson after sex toys were sold to an undercover officer during a sting operation.

24th October		2257 Overbroad

	Court strikes down 2257 record keeping requirements
	From How Appealing see full article See also the detailed decision [pdf]
	The Majority on a partially divided three-judge Sixth Circuit panel strikes down as facially unconstitutional, the 2257 recordkeeping requirements on producers of images of "actual sexually explicit conduct". The 2257 records verify the ages of those depicted in the images. Describing the federal statute at issue, the majority opinion explains, The plain text, the purpose, and the legislative history of the statute make clear that Congress was concerned with all child pornography and considered recordkeeping important in battling all of it, without respect to the creator's motivation. The majority proceeds to hold the statute facially overbroad and then strikes down the law as unconstitutional. Even the dissenting judge agrees that the statute is overbroad, but he believes that judicial narrowing of the statute can save it from being unconstitutional. This decision is a significant First Amendment ruling that directly implicates the controversial subjects of legal adult pornography and illegal child pornography. I expect that the ruling will receive plenty of attention. From X Biz see full article Attorney Lawrence Walters told XBIZ that the court�s opinion, while a very significant victory, is not the final word on the question of 2257�s constitutionality and cautioned that adult webmasters should not view it as the end of their 2257 concerns. Generally, you have to be very careful with reacting too rashly to any opinion, Walters said. This is a panel ruling, and it is not final. The government could ask for an en banc rehearing by the full circuit, and they can appeal the decision. Walters also noted that the decision only applies to the portion of the US that is covered by the 6th Circuit � namely, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The good news, Walters said, is that the government�s options in getting the opinion overturned are all �long shots,� and he said the court�s reasoning in the opinion was very sound.

21st October		A Gesture of Repression

	Gestures to send working girls and customers to jail
	Based on an article from Charleston Daily Mail see full article
	Simple body language can now send known prostitutes and their customers to jail in West Virginia's second largest city, Huntingdon. Under the new law, suspects can be arrested for beckoning passers-by with conversation, attempting to stop traffic by waving their arms, circling an area in a vehicle or trying to stop pedestrians. An arrest can also be made if a suspect asks if a potential prostitute or patron is a police officer. The offense must occur in a public place known to police as a high-crime area, and must be committed by someone who has been convicted of a prostitution offense within the past two years. Penalties for violating the law include a $500 fine and/or 30 days in jail. The ordinance, which was approved last week, is modeled after one in Seattle that was upheld by the Washington Supreme Court.

25th December		Fairs Unfair...

	Texas allowed discriminatory tax take
	From X Biz see full article
	Attempts to block a state-imposed $5 fee on Texas gentlemen's club admissions � slated to go into effect Jan. 1 � so far have failed. District Judge Scott Jenkins refused to block the tax from going into effect, paving the way for a lawsuit that seeks to prove the unconstitutionality of the tariff, which plaintiffs contend is discriminatory, suppresses their right to free speech and endangers the survival of many affected businesses. The tax initiative is intended by officials to raise an estimated $50 million annually. A trial date is expected to be set after Jenkins rules on the plaintiffs� legal standing and ability to sue the state. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and state Comptroller Susan Combs submitted a legal brief to the court, stating that the fee does not prohibit nude dancing, does not dictate where live nude entertainment may be presented, does not require any minimum clothing and does not govern the physical setting for the activity. Even though the state does not specify how the $5-per-customer fee should be collected, most club owners are expected to collect it as part of a cover charge.

23rd December		Free For All...

	American porn industry battles YouPorn
	From the Observer see full article
	America's adult entertainment workers claim their $13bn industry is in trouble. Sales are down by as much as half as customers learn that what they once paid for can now be free. Pirated pornography is flooding the internet while thousands of 'amateurs' post their activities on websites such as YouPorn. Last week, Vivid Video, one of the largest porn studios, took legal action against Pornotube, a website the company claims is depriving the industry and its performers of legitimate revenue by allowing the streaming of copyrighted material. According to surveys, sites such as YouPorn and Pornotube draw more internet traffic than CNN. Like YouTube, the phenomenally popular, Google-owned website, X-rated sites depend on users streaming videos to the site - and YouPorn is adding 15 million new users a month. The adult entertainment industry is starting to get aggressive, says Farley Cahen, an editor at Adult Video News. The problem is that more and more people are finding out about these sites and that they can get this free content. After a decade of double-digit growth, the porn industry is seeing sales of DVDs, its biggest money-maker, slip. Last year, total sales were down 15%. The industry says it is laying off workers.

16th December		Love Ranch...

	Helen Mirren to make film supporting legal brothels
	From PR-Inside see full article
	Helen Mirren is using her directorial debut to push for legalised prostitution across America and Britain. The actress will direct and star in Love Ranch, playing the madame of Nevada's first legalised brothel. And the Oscar winner insists the film carries an important message: Legalised prostution is not such a bad idea. It gets girls off the street, away from pimps and drugs.

10th December		Alabama's Cold Shower...

	Wake up call over sex toy ban
	From X Biz see full article
	An Alabama legislator has filed a bill to revoke the state's ban on the sale of sex toys, the second he has filed since the law's inception in 1998. Representative John Rogers told the Birmingham News that the law is unconstitutional and embarrassing to the state: A shower head could be considered a sex toy. It's just bringing the state into the 20th century." This is the same law that adult shop owner Sherri Williams has spent a decade fighting. Despite losing the battle in October. Though the U.S. Supreme Court refused in October to hear Williams' case, seemingly ending the fight and making selling sex toys officially illegal in the state, a circuit court recently deemed the law too vague after an attempt to shut down an adult store, opening the issue up for debate. I intend to pass this bill this year, Rogers said. I want it to be one of the first bills on the calendar. The bill reportedly may be discussed Feb. 5.

30th October		Small Ads Large Implications

	Orlando Newspaper done for escort small ads
	From X Biz see full article
	The arrest of three employees of the Orlando Weekly on charges of aiding and abetting prostitution could have implications for escort sites and other websites that carry classified and personal ads, according to an adult industry attorney. This case raises some significant 1st Amendment concerns, attorney Lawrence Walters told XBIZ. We�re talking about the government agency effectively shutting down a newspaper that was critical of its activities. There may be some extenuating circumstances in this case, depending on how the facts play out. But the prospect of a special law enforcement task force taking newspaper employees into custody on racketeering charges based on the content of its advertising is antithetical to the precepts of the free speech guarantee. Walters added that it was important to remember that advertising is considered commercial speech, which means that it is protected under the 1st Amendment, just as the rest of the Weekly�s content is covered: If the government is successful here, the implications are particularly chilling for similar media outlets. Will newspapers across the country now be required to conduct background investigations into their advertisers, to ensure that they�re not involved in any untoward activity? The potential impact of the case on websites like CraigsList.org also is uncertain, Walters said: While these sites enjoy greater protection against civil liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, that provision does not appear to limit exposure to criminal prosecution. So the basic approach that [Orlando�s Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation] is using might be utilized in the online realm, if a conviction ensues in the Orlando Weekly case. The arrests of the Weekly employees took place Oct. 19 at a job fair held at the Orlando Marriott Hotel. Officers from Orlando�s MBI arrested the newspaper�s classified ads director and two account executives following what was reportedly a two-year sting operation dubbed �Operation Weekly Shame.� In the course of the sting, officers for the MBI reportedly posed as prostitutes interested in purchasing ads in the Weekly, and made it known to the representatives that fielded their advertising requests that the ads were for the purposes of furthering prostitution. Rick Schreiber, publisher of the Orlando Weekly, staunchly defended his publication and his employees, and asserted that the arrests were made as a form of payback for negative coverage of the MBI that the Orlando Weekly has carried over the years.

9th October		Pasty Minded Mayor

	Legal victory for those repressing adult entertainment in Louisville
	Based on an article from Courier Journal see full article
	The Kentucky Court of Appeals handed a sweeping victory today to Louisville Metro government in its effort to repress adult businesses. In an 89-page opinion, a three-judge panel upheld the constitutionality of Louisville�s adult-entertainment ordinance, which requires exotic dancers to wear pasties, prohibits dancers and patrons from touching and bars alcohol sales inside such businesses. We�re pleased the court agreed with our position that we have the right to regulate these kind of businesses and hope that ultimately that leads to change in behavior by these businesses, said Chad Carlton, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Abramson: The history of the efforts to regulate adult businesses has been strung along in the courts. They have used courts to buy time and continue their behavior. Attorney Frank Mascagni, who represents the adult businesses, said his clients are almost certain to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court. A ruling from the high court could be a year to 18 months away, he said.

12th June	Fucking Trademarks!
	Patent Office refuse trademark to adult website Based on an article from AVN see full article Kink.com owner Peter Acworth is fighting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to tradema