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The Changing Face Of Government Threats To Adult Businesses |
XBIZ MARCH 2013
Last November, the adult entertainment industry heaved a collective sigh of relief at the news that Barack Obama had been reelected. Widespread concerns that a Romney victory might usher in a new era of federal prosecutions were, in my opinion, not at all unreasonable.
But now what? Is the federal government finally out of the obscenity prosecution business? Can adult entertainment companies ignore their federal record keeping and labeling obligations under the “2257 regulations”[1] now that the government has admitted it has no immediate plans to resume inspections?[2] Is the industry’s long national nightmare of government prosecutorial intimidation finally over? Could it be that the war against the censors of erotic expression has been won?
Some say yes. Others, including some prominent industry attorneys, say, absolutely not! My answer is, well, a bit more nuanced. |
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A Look Back And A Look Ahead
XBIZ - FEBRUARY 2013
Congratulations are in order for everyone at XBiz on the occasion of the publication of this, the centennial edition of XBiz World. It is a remarkable accomplishment by publisher Alec Helmy and all of the XBiz World staff, past and present, who have tirelessly worked for more than eight years to make XBiz World the adult entertainment industry’s premier printed publication.
On a personal note, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Alec and XBiz for the opportunity to become XBiz World’s regular legal contributor from the first issue of this extraordinary magazine. I would also like to express my thanks to my readers, with a special thanks to those who have taken time to comment on my articles throughout the years.
Because this is the 100th edition, and I have written a legal article for each issue, this will be my 100th XBiz legal article. One-hundredth anniversaries of anything are often a time to mark, a time to pause and reflect, and a time to reminisce and look forward.
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Patent End Times Alert: March 16, 2013 Not December 21, 2012 |
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XBIZ JANUARY 2013
In 1998 I wrote an article for, what was at the time, a new adult industry business publication called “AVN Online”. The article focused on a Federal Circuit Court decision that had just been handed down in the case of State Street Bank and Trust Company v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. The historic decision dramatically expanded U.S. patent laws to cover business method inventions. In that article I stated that the expansion of the scope of patentable subject matter to business methods could potentially be beneficial for some online adult businesses because even in those early days of e-commerce, online adult entertainment companies were rapidly creating new technologies and business models ahead of their non-adult counterparts.
Well, here we are 14 years later and as one of the only two licensed patent attorneys I know of practicing in the adult entertainment law area (my wife being the other), I have had the privilege of helping many adult entertainment companies exploit their innovations and technology improvements through the acquisition of valuable patent rights for their inventions. One such company, for example, recently sold one of its patent portfolios for more that $10 million.
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