Today XBIZ announced that Bluebird Films lost its lawsuit with Private and as such has to pay them like $230,000. [source] Not a penny of which, I assure you they have. Rumors are that they have been bleeding the company dry for awhile now and it’s really nothing more than a shell now.
The problem is, it’s the affiliates that have been sending traffic to its collection of websites that really get fucked here. Read this line ….
“In a draft letter obtained by XBIZ, Private plans on communicating to Bluebird distributors and payment processors that distribution of Bluebird content can continue but that all payments to Bluebird or its affiliates must cease immediately.”
While not all affiliates where “whales” and are owned only a few hundred dollars here and there, some however are owned as much as $5,000 to $10,000 and that is money they will most likely never see.
As far as the deal they recently signed with Gammae to take over control of their websites, who knows what is going on with that. The new sites and Bluebird affiliate program run by Gammae from what I heard were due out in September. That date has long since passed … which was right around the time the judge ruled against Bluebird Films. So who knows what is going on with that deal.
All we can say for sure is that in the end, the little guy gets fucked in the ass and that Bluebird Films has known about this judgement for over a month, and didn’t bother to notify its affiliates, instead letting them send even more traffic making Bluebird even more money on the traffic of affiliates that they’ll never pay for.
So while his affiliates go unpaid, Paul Chaplin continues to live in up in the UK on the money being made by those affiliates. Paying for his whores and buying them $2300 shoes!!!!!!!!!!
And don’t forget, these are just the affiliates we are talking about here. There are still quite a few people in the industry who Bluebird Films owes a lot of money too.
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LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that Bluebird America Inc. must pay Private Media Group $230,000 and hand over past, present and future worldwide distribution rights of Bluebird content.
The breach-of-contract case decided last month has its roots in a five-year exclusive distribution deal inked in September 2009, where Private was appointed by Bluebird as the global exclusive distributor of its existing library and all future releases on nearly all platforms, including DVD, IPTV, web and mobile.
The distribution deal at the time was regarded as a blockbuster move between the companies — Private, one of the top distributors in the biz, and Bluebird, with its high-quality elegant content.
Bluebird, at the time of the Private deal, said it had in excess of 175 unreleased titles and that it had a production schedule that would average 10 new adult films per month.
But a year into the contract, Private made claims that Bluebird owner Paul Baxendale was double dipping.
The Barcelona-based company alleged in a complaint that Baxendale had attempted to exploit Bluebird content further by selling distribution rights to third-party companies. Private further contended that Baxendale attempted to set up shell licensee companies to peddle the Bluebird films.
Last month, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Mooney entered a judgment against Bluebird, reinstating Private’s exclusive distribution agreement retroactively.
As a result of the judgment, Private is planning to send notices to distributors of Bluebird content, alerting them about the judgment and what to do next.
In a draft letter obtained by XBIZ, Private plans on communicating to Bluebird distributors and payment processors that distribution of Bluebird content can continue but that all payments to Bluebird or its affiliates must cease immediately.
Private said in the letter that it is not looking for retroactive compensation, saying it would be unfair and unreasonable.
But it emphasized that all fees for licenses or goods relating to Bluebird-branded content or its back catalog should be directed to Private to satisfy the judgment.
The letter asks recipients to contact Private counsel in Barcelona within 10 business days.
Launched by Baxendale in 2006, Bluebird entered the adult arena to become the U.K.’s largest adult company with two sprawling studios in North America and Europe, including five soundstages where the company made use of state-of-the-art HD equipment.
Baxendale, who also goes by the name Paul Chaplin, even launched Bluebirds Magazine, distributed in the U.K.
In May, however, Baxendale changed his course away from the business of adult production, saying that he would focus on his newly acquired lad publication, Loaded. He said he was retiring to “do other things, including, of course, steering Loaded magazine into a new generation of life.”
Baxendale did not immediately reply to XBIZ queries on the judgment over Bluebird content. Private officials declined comment on the case.
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