SAN FRANCISCO — Gay adult film studio Spunk Video has announced that it has filed suit in Federal Court over rights to the first Michael Lucas bareback movie.

“Michael Lucas produced a bareback movie and then refused to pay for it,” said Spunk Producer Mike Brady. “He told the Director to go sell it to someone else, and we bought it,” Brady said.

Late last month Lucas released the gay porn bareback DVD entitled “Raw Twinks in Czech.” This gay porn movie is the exact same film as Spunk’s previously released hit title “Nasty Piss Boys.”

From email records between Lucas and the Czech director of the film, it appears that Lucas considered releasing the movie, but then decided against it. Later, Lucas flip-flopped and decided to release the film despite the fact that by then he knew the exclusive rights had been acquired by another studio. Lucas attempted to divert attention from his actions by releasing the film under the Czech director’s imprint, to which Spunk is the exclusive North American licensee.

Within hours of learning of Lucas’ intention to release the film, Spunk issued the first in a series of Cease and Desist letters and notifications. However, Lucas, who claims a law degree, stated that since he produced the film he had a right to sell it. Given the circumstances of the case, Spunk filed suit in the Southern District of New York Federal Court alleging willful copyright infringement, docket number CIV 4320. Spunk seeks actual and punitive damages to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Michael Lucas is no stranger to litigation, as he was recently sued by International Media Films, the owners of Federico Fellini’s iconic classic motion picture “La Dolce Vita.” Unlike that case, here it is alleged that Lucas’ copyright infringement relates to the theft of the movie actual.

Although not raised in the complaint, Lucas appears to also have knowingly and willfully violated 18 U.S.C. Section 2257 regarding labeling and record- keeping for pornographic movies. “We are the owners and copyright holders of this material and the true Custodian of Records. It is our duty to prevent the distribution of this material with improper labeling,” noted Mike Brady. “Out of deference to the industry’s stance on the unconstitutionality of 2257, we did not raise the issue legally.”

However, Spunk is informing distributors/retailers/streamers who may be considered secondary producers under the law that they may wish to note that the labeling on Michael Lucas’ movie “Raw Twinks in Czech” is defective, and that this could be a violation of Federal law.

Lucas’ entry in the market for gay adult bareback films is a shocking departure from that company’s stated practice. At a session during the 2007 GayVN sponsored summit conference, Lucas said that he only works with models who are so beautiful they won’t do bareback. “We’re quite surprised that Lucas would engage in behavior that directly contradicts his public persona. But the bottom line is, Michael Lucas may go bare but it won’t be on our backs,” said Mike Brady.