U.S. Supreme Court
Adult Mag’s Case Against Credit Card Companies Declined by Supreme Court
Posted Jun 2, 2008, 10:32 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a lawsuit that contends credit card companies aid copyright infringement by providing services to websites that use pirated materials.
The suit was filed by Perfect 10, an adult online magazine, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The publication sued Visa Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. for aiding copyright infringement and trademark violations of offshore companies that are beyond the effective reach of U.S. laws.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected the case, which had sought to establish secondary copyright liability. Perfect 10’s cert petition (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog) argued that the 9th Circuit ruling “allows pirates to operate with impunity.”
The case is Perfect 10 v. Visa International Service Association.