from the Free Speech Coalition- Santa Monica, Calif. – Free Speech Coalition attorney Jeffrey Douglas, who also represents Chatsworth, Calif.-based Legend Video, said that the FBI inspection of the company’s 2257 records this week was conducted in violation of an injunction issued in favor of the trade group’s secondary producer members by a U.S. District Court in Denver.

Legend Video, which Douglas called a classic secondary producer, buys, duplicates and distributes finished adult films, but does not produce any primary material. According to Douglas, the company is therefore protected under the injunction issued in December by U.S. Judge Walker D. Miller.

“I regard this as a very serious matter,” Douglas told XBIZ. “It is a bad thing that the FBI has treated this injunction in such a cavalier fashion.”

Douglas said his client, Legend co-owner Bruce Mendleson, put him touch via phone with the FBI agent leading the inspection team.

“The explanation that the agent in charge gave to me regarding their decision to continue despite my objections was wholly unsatisfactory,” Douglas said. “The next step is to meet with the FSC litigation team and plan our response.”

In late December, the U.S. District Court granted in part and denied in part the preliminary injunction that halts enforcement of several amended rules relative to U.S.C. 18 § 2257.

The order sustained the FSC’s argument that the inclusion of “secondary producers” in the accompanying regulations violated a previous 10th Circuit ruling – Sundance Associates Inc. vs. Reno, 139 F.3d 804 (10th Circuit, 1998) – and other aspects of the organizations’ contention that 2257 imposes undue burdens on speech, but otherwise denied their claim that 2257 is unconstitutional.

The case is Free Speech Coalition vs. Alberto Gonzales, No. 05 CV 1126 WDM.