Although it hasn’t received the green light to exhibit it, the company
that holds the rights to the much-talked-about, little-seen Colin
Farrell sex tape, Phoenix-based Internet Commerce Group (ICG), has come
out in the open and is trying to drum up business.
ICG, which owns affiliate marketing programs
XXXCash.com,
CelebrityCash.com and
MilitaryCash.com, has announced plans to distribute the Irish lothario’s exploits with Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain at
HollywoodSexTapes.com.
The only problem is, the company doesn’t have legal clearance to broadcast anything yet.
Farrell filed suit against ICG in Los Angeles Superior Court last July
to stop the tape from seeing the light of day, with high-powered
entertainment lawyer Martin Singer leading the charge. Ironically,
Singer previously represented sex tape peddler and
Paris Hilton ex Rick Salomon in Salomon’s crusade to release the Hilton tape.
ICG’s attorneys have filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, Singer has
amended his complaint and the case was moved to federal court, where
ICG hoped to turn it into a far-reaching copyright issue.
Monday, the case was moved back to state court.
While Farrell doesn’t want the tape released,
Nicole Narain is pushing hard to cash in.
David Gingras, the lawyer representing ICG in the case, says the
situation presents the potential for a precedent-setting interpretation
of copyright law.
“I’d like to think this is a no-lose situation,” he says. “If we do
lose, this will be the rule for every other [similar] case that arises.
If you have one person on a tape that says ‘I don’t want it out there,’
if there are 20 people on the tape and one can stop everyone else, that
will really restrict people’s access to information.
“We view it as a pretty important case to win,” Gingras says. “There
are issues in this case that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court.”
Before Farrell’s sex tape became the center of a discussion involving
the Supreme Court, it was just another fringe adult industry
distraction. ICG chief executive Sal Abbate says the tape initially was
offered to him for $1 million, the caveat being that Narain was likely
the only one who would agree to its broadcast. Abbate says he scoffed
at the price tag. Meanwhile, upon hearing of Narain’s intention,
Farrell’s lawyers sprang into action, hitting ICG with the lawsuit.
“At that point, I said wait a minute, we didn’t do anything wrong,”
Abbate says. “We’re like Blockbuster Video. We said if the tape is
legal, we’ll be a distributor.”
Since then, Farrell has accused ICG of using his image for profit and
Narain has signed a deal with the company. The Playmate also has taken
to the media, recently appearing on the MSNBC show Rita Cosby's Live
& Direct, where she pleaded her case.
Now onto the sex tape site: No, HollywoodSexTapes.com isn’t
broadcasting anything. It simply consists of a teaser for the Farrell
tape, followed by links to purchase other legal-to-sell celebrity sex
tapes.
Clever marketing? Wishful thinking? Cheap trickery?
“At the end of the day, we want to let people know where it’s going to
be available, pending litigation,” Abbate says of the tape and the site.
“Right now, things are looking good from a legal standpoint,” he
continues. “Nicole is a copyright holder, and she has gone ahead and
agreed to exercise that copyright. We feel we have a really good chance
of winning this thing.”
Singer did not return a call seeking comment.