Vivid Entertainment said it will delay distribution of
Shauna Sand's sex tape for a week, while its lawyers and a handwriting expert counter a "cease and desist" letter sent by Shauna's attorney Brooks J. Holcomb.
Holcomb threatened a lawsuit if Vivid did not call off its plans to release the video on October 19th and demanded that the studio "produce any legitimate, written proof of Vivid`s asserted rights" to distribute it. He said Ms. Sand "denies ever signing any release form or waiver of any kind authorizing Vivid to sell, use or distribute the video."
Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid-Entertainment, dismissed Holcomb's claims, but said the company would delay distribution of the video, probably for one week, while its lawyers responded to Holcomb and a handwriting expert verifies that the signature on a release form granting rights to the video is demonstrated to be authentic.
"We expected a positive reaction to this movie from both retailers and consumers, but we're pretty overwhelmed by the enthusiasm at this point and we want to release it as soon as possible," said Mr. Hirsch. "I think we'll be able to do so as I still feel confident that all of our papers are in order and we have the right to move ahead with distribution. In an overabundance of caution our lawyers have asked us to delay the release until they have dealt with the claims of Mr. Holcomb and Shauna Sand."
Vivid announced earlier that it would release the movie through its Vivid-Celeb imprint, which has also distributed other
celebrity sex tapes starring such personalities as
Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape,
Kim Kardashian sex tape,
Jimi Hendrix sex tape and others.
The video, which shows Shauna Sand having sex with a boyfriend earlier this year, was obtained by a third party who brought it to Vivid.
If you do a
whois lookup for shaunasandexposed.com domain, you can see that domain was registered in January 2009, so Vivid must have been in possession of the tape for quite some time now.