Nevada Brothels Aren’t Shielded by 1st Amendment, 9th Circuit Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Nevada’s legal brothels aren’t backed by 1st Amendment protections when it comes to advertising because prostitution is a vice and that the state has the right to limit it.

The publishers of two newspapers that circulate in areas of Nevada where prostitution is prohibited and the owner of a legal brothel in Nye County brought a challenge to a Nevada statute, alleging that the advertising restrictions violate the 1st Amendment.

The U.S. District Court in Las Vegas ruled that the state’s advertising restrictions were unconstitutional because they reach beyond pure commercial speech. The court concluded that the state failed to offer any compelling interest in support of its policy.

But Nevada appealed, and the 9th Circuit reversed the lower-court ruling based on the state’s position that it is largely interested in regulating “the commodification of sex, both directly and by reducing demand.”

“Nevada’s substantial interest in limiting the commodification of sex is directly and materially advanced by the restrictions on brothel advertising” 9th Circuit judges said in their 3-0 ruling. “Nevada has tailored its restrictions on advertising to attain a reasonable fit between ends and means.

“Vice is treated differently, the state contends, and because prostitution is particularly disfavored, the state’s power to completely ban the activity includes the ability to ban its promotion, maintains the state.”

The case is Coyote Publishing vs. Nevada, No. 07-16633.

Industry Veteran Kim Airs Joins Brown Bag Party

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Industry veteran Kim Airs joins sex toy party company Brown Bag Party as director of brand development.

“Bringing on someone with Kim’s experience of more than 17 years in the adult industry will only catapult us into becoming one of the top adult home party companies in the country,” Brown Bag Party founder and CEO Peter Palmiotto said. “I am thrilled that she will be in a position to train our consultants in all aspects of sexuality and develop products that will enhance all of our consultants’ and their customers’ lives.”

In this newly created position, Airs will be responsible for product training and awareness for Brown Bag Party’s nationwide romance consultants through personal and web based media.

She will also host the “Ask Kim” section of Brown Bag Party’s website for both consultants and their customers, public relations, as well as contributing to the ever increasing product development segment of the company.

“Words cannot describe how happy I am to be associated with such a rapidly expanding and impressively managed company,” Airs said.

“I am truly excited to bring my skills and knowledge to Brown Bag Party during this exciting stage of growth and I look forward to being part of the Brown Bag Party family at such an exciting time. At last, I have found my perfect fit and in this industry, we all know it’s about a perfect fit!”

Kim is a certified sex educator through, a charter member of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and a member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists.

Titan Media, BearTrapping.com to Settle Piracy Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Titan Media’s $6 million suit against BearTrapping.com operator Gary Niederhelman apparently will be settled, XBIZ has learned.

Both parties have scheduled a case management conference slated for tomorrow, where they will tell the judge that they are in the midst of executing a settlement agreement within 30 days.

XBIZ was unable to reach Niederhelman or Titan Media representatives late Thursday for comment or to learn terms of the settlement.

Titan’s parent, IO Group, filed suit against BearTrapping.com operator Gary Niederhelman in September, seeking an injunction and damages totaling $6 million over the alleged pirating through file-sharing of at least 40 Titan-branded videos.

Niederhelman has contened that all of the content on BearTrapping is user-generated and unmonitored, and that he is protected from liability on infringement claims through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe-harbor provisions.

Those provisions protect service providers from liability for hosting pirated clips uploaded by users.

Niederhelman, of New Jersey, further maintains that the infringing content was immediately removed from his servers upon hearing from Titan.

BearTrapping, a men’s social-networking site that includes uploaded video, has about 184,000 member accounts. Niederhelman said that only about 2,100 of those are subscribers.

The case was punctuated by a request made by Titan’s parent, IO Group, to order BearTrapping to reveal IP addresses of subscribers who may have had a part in the file sharing of the 40 videos.

U.S. Judge Jeffrey S. White gave the green light to the order, and Titan was allowed to serve Internet service providers subpoenas to obtain subscriber information.

Pink Visual’s Boyer to Speak at SXSW Interactive

AUSTIN — Pink Visual’s director of public relations, Quentin Boyer, is schedule to lead a discussion about the adult Internet industry at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival on March 15.

As an extension of the long running SXSW music festival, the interactive portion of the event includes panel discussions and presentations from a wide variety of major technology and media companies, including a keynote address by Twitter CEO Evan Williams.

“It’s pretty cool to be included as a speaker alongside so many luminaries from the mainstream tech world,” Boyer said. “I see my role there to be to dispel some myths surrounding the industry, and to emphasize that although it’s undeniably tougher sledding in this sector than it was 10-12 years ago, there is still opportunity to make some serious money in the adult space.”

LAJ, YNOT.com’s vice president, will also join the discussion with Boyer.

“SXSW is hands down the best time in Austin,” LAJ said. “What started out as a music festival over 20 years ago has since added a film and interactive festival and the amount of fun and business opportunities to be had is enormous. I’m stoked to be speaking with Quentin to what will be a group of informed and enlightened people.”

The discussion will cover a wide range of issues that face adult entrepreneurs in the Internet sector, from the basics of establishing a web presence to the legal risks of distributing adult content.

For more on SXSW interactive, click here.

Pacific Sun Entertainment Launches 1st Membership Site

CHATSWORTH, Calif. — Gay production and distribution house Pacific Sun Entertainment has partnered with BrainCash for the launch of its first of several niche sites.

Pacific Sun’s first membership site, HugeCocksAndJocks.com, features athletic, hard-bodied men.

The site offers surfers unlimited views for a monthly or annual fee. The site is regularly updated with DRM-free videos and photos. HugeCocksAndJocks.com features no popup ads.

The site can be connected to a television to be viewed on a bigger screen.

The company said it is planning partnership sites that cater to Black Men and Twink niches.

Pacific Sun operates hard goods site GayMagix.com and video-on-demand sites PacificSun.tv and PacificSunVOD.tv.

NakedSword’s ‘March Madness’ Offers New Content, Partnerships

SAN FRANCISCO — Leading gay porn membership website NakedSword has announced its “March Madness” promo, featuring sizzling new content and wild events.

According to the company, NakedSword started the month of March, as it does every month, by adding a new fan favorite to The Dream Team, the VOD site’s exclusive club of A-List porn stars. The Dream Team member this month is Ty Colt, the former bodybuilder turned Falcon Exclusive who has captivated porn fans with his performances and good looks. All five of Colt’s movies are exclusively available from NakedSword.

This month NakedSword fans also enjoyed the newest episode of The Tim & Roma Show, shot in Los Angeles on the weekend of The Cybersocket Awards. Before picking up the 2010 Cybersocket Award for Best VOD Site, NakedSword CEO Tim Valenti, and co-host Sister Roma, enjoyed a filthy romp through Hollywood before landing on the red carpet for exclusive interviews with gay porn newcomers and industry veterans.

Another NakedSword property, the gay porn tabloid and gossip site, The Sword, added a brand new hardcore section to its already swollen roster of breaking news, behind-the-scenes industry coverage, insider scoops and funny, offbeat stories. The hardcore section will further cement The Sword’s place at the top of industry reporting, with exclusive galleries and clips of hot new productions from dozens of studios.

NakedSword also remains a powerhouse offline, going beyond porn once again by sponsoring Renegade, a new gay San Francisco title contest.

“Local bars are coming together to choose their favorite hot and slutty gear-loving contestants. The winner, who will be selected in April at a large bash, will the go on to compete for the title of International Mr. Leather at IML in Chicago,” said a company rep. “NakedSword, a portal for local events as well as a portal for the best in gay porn, will travel with Mr. Renegade to Chicago to provide extensive coverage of his journey.”

“Our new content and partnerships this month should give everyone a good idea of what NakedSword is all about,” said Valenti. “NakedSword’s biggest goals are to give members the hottest porn, the top new performers, the most fun and extensive behind-the-scenes coverage around and the wildest local events.”

“Our customers have always thought of us as more than a porn site, and we’re happy to deliver them the best in off-camera news, original productions and new parties,” Valenti added. “It’s Beyond Porn.”

ICANN Delays .XXX Vote, Will Seek Public Comment

NAIROBI, Kenya — ICANN today delayed a vote on ICM Registry’s proposal to sell .XXX domain names and directed its general counsel and chief executive to formulate “possible process options” to the plan that would be available for public comment.

The Internet policymaking group, holding its 37th meeting in Nairobi, said it would formally vote on the .XXX issue “no later than its Brussels meeting,” which is slated for June 20-25.

The ICANN board decided on a plan to post the options and a report within 14 days on its website. The options will be posted for 45 days.

ICANN board member Rita Rodin Johnston said that the panel worked diligently in reviewing ICM Registry’s appeal to its proposal through the week that started Sunday.

“I just want to assure everyone in the community that the board takes this decision [by dispute-resolution jurists] very seriously … we intend to continue moving very quickly in making a decision,” Rodin said.

After the meeting, ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley told XBIZ that he plans to be patient over ICANN’s latest move on the .XXX matter.

“We note the ICANN board resolutions and are looking forward to seeing the proposals in the next 14 days for the process to implement the independent review panel’s decision,” he said.

Earlier in the year, dispute-resolution judges, 2-1, ruled in favor of ICM agreeing that ICANN’s decision to nix .XXX were arbitrary.

The .XXX proposal has many in the online adult industry worried that it would amount to the creation of a red light district on the Internet.

ICM Registry’s proposal would make it the gatekeeper for the sTLD, requiring it to monitor registrant compliance with content site-labeling requirements.

The .XXX top-level domain would be dedicated exclusively to adult content and could be used by some states as a means to force all unwanted or illegal content to migrate to that sTLD that could then be easily monitored or filtered.

ICM’s plan also would require a set of “best practices” to protect children online and fund the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, an independent organization ICM has said it would create if approved.

ICM pledges to donate $10 of the proposed annual fee of $60 for a .XXX domain name to child-protection groups and require users of .XXX to label their content.

In an interview with XBIZ earlier this week, Lawley said that there’s a “detailed rollout procedure” included in the draft contract that would allow the sTLD to begin selling names after 180-210 days if it is approved.

“Once a contract is signed we will continue our pre-reservation and begin allocating names,” he said. “They should go on general sale to the community approximately six months after that.”

ICM’s pre-reservation system still is in effect for online businesses in the adult entertainment industry at ICMRegistry.com.

Glamour Site Bella1010.com Launches

DALLAS — Solo glamour model hub Bella1010 has debuted with interactivity, membership alternatives and content as its key features that encourage long-term memberships.

President Danny Rocha said he and CEO Alex Sulaco — the minds behind ManifestMen.com — put as much thought into their content as they do its presentation to the end user.

“I see girls in everyday life that possess so much natural beauty, beauty I’m not even sure they are aware of,” Rocha said. “A lot of the girls we have worked with were people I saw in supermarkets, banks, walking — these are not porn stars — but everyday naturally beautiful girls given an opportunity to shine and then some.”

The company said its personalization of every model’s shoot translates on the screen and welcomes even the most evasive viewer demographic: women.

“Bella1010.com allows men to interact with the models in ways that are not available on other sites in our niche,” Sulaco said. “But most importantly, the site is erotic and tasteful enough so a guy can share it with a woman if he chooses. Featuring gorgeous girls in solo situations leaves more to the imagination, and allows the viewer to focus solely on the beautiful subject without distractions.”

Borrowing from the business model of ManifestMen.com, Bella1010.com offers free basic memberships that have been tracked and proven to entice viewers to upgrade to Premium Memberships, the company said. Viewers that are uninterested in monthly signups, Bella1010 offers VOD and buy-to-download options.

“Adding those options to ManifestMen.com increased its revenue and affiliate sales by 50 percent on the same volume of traffic that we had previously,” Sulaco said. “Daily updates complete the premium membership experience – promoted using social networking and email blasts – and give them the opportunity to interact with models one-on-one during webcam shows which are included in their premium membership. Other sites only offer that as an upsell.”

The site features behind-the-scenes photos and video, candid between-takes video, downloadable M4V files for iPod/iPhone and QuickTime viewing, and the ability to comment, rate and favorite any piece of content on Bella1010.com.

Bella1010.com offers affiliates top technical support and promotional and tracking software.

Medical Clinic Offers New Services to Adult Industry

ENCINO, Calif. — Pinnacle Medical Group of Los Angeles is now offering monthly adult industry standard PCR/DNA, gonorrhea, and chlamydia testing.

The tests cost $105 and are HIPPA compliant. Test results are usually back within 24 hours.

Administrator Mark Levenson told XBIZ that Pinnacle Medical Group provides efficient and cost effective services to meet the needs of the adult industry. With 2 licensed physicians, patients can get monthly testing and treatment all in the same place.

“Our clinic was opened to help men with erectile dysfunction who have diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments, but now, we’ve expanded our services to include testing for the adult industry,” Levenson said.

Levenson added the clinic can help men to enhance performance, determine how hard they want to be and how long they want to last.

“’Though developed for men with erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation, our medicine can be used by men who don’t suffer from any problems and just wish to enhance their sexual performance and stamina.” Levenson said. “Our licensed physicians will find you your own personalized treatment for your specific condition and needs.”

Pinnacle also offers an exclusive mobile lab concierge service that can come to the patient for $140.

As a bonus to erectile enhancement patients who are taking the adult industry monthly test, the initial office visit of $195 will be reduced to $125.

The following tests are offered:

HIV1/HIV2 plus O, EIA for $85.

Oral HIV test with results in 15 minutes that is 99 percent accurate and not reportable for $50.

An SDT panel which includes HIV1/HIV2, syphilis, herpes, GC, chlamydia and hepatitis C for $250.

A full physical with chemistry and complete blood count for $150.

Pinnacle Medical Clinic is located at 15503 Ventura Blvd. Suite 325 in Encino, Calif.

For more information call 818-386-6566.

VQuest Launches JetWang Gay Asian Site

TORONTO, Canada — Vquest Inc. announced the launch of JetWang.com, its Asian niche gay site.

The company said the site features dozens of exclusive models, photography and video shot on location in various Asian cities.

“We felt that JetWang is emblematic of the rise of many Asian countries, their economies and their social spheres, particularly changing attitudes about sexuality. About 60 percent of the consumers of the site are from Asian countries but membership sales are healthy from North America and Europe too,” said Jeffrey Peel director of marketing for Vquest Inc.

Peel added, “The niche converts miles ahead of content produced in Europe and the States, which leads us to believe there is a significant white space in the market for top drawer gay Asian content.”

Webmasters can find a full variety of supporting promotional materials at the company’s affiliate program at VqCash.com.

Information about the site and affiliate program can be found at VqCash.com.