Amateur tape producers have been particularly guilty of this little practice over the years. It’s only now that a Big Fish is in the limelight.

LOS ANGELES— The Warner Music Group is suing Reality Kings for copyright infringement “of the most blatant and offensive kind.”

Warner Music Group, on behalf of several of its labels, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court this week against RealityKings.com (RK) and its parent company, RK Netmedia Inc.

According to stories reported on both by www.avn.com and www.xbiz.com, the lawsuit was filed July 7 by attorneys representing Warner Bros Records, Electra Entertainment Group, Atlantic Recording Corporation, Bad Boy Records and Asylum Records, among others.

The 44-page complaint accuses Reality Kings of the “deliberate and brazen exploitation of Plaintiff’s sound recordings and musical compositions in hundreds of extreme hardcore pornographic videos, without any consent or authorization from Plaintiff’s.”

The complaint further alleges that Reality King’s use of the recordings and musical compositions is no accident, that each of the Plaintiff’s works is featured prominently, in the foreground of the video, and serves as a focal point for the visual content.

The lawsuit further claims that the allegedly unlicensed music also is used to draw audiences to the defendant’s website and to advertise and promote the videos, “by naming the videos after popular songs (e.g., ‘Bring Sexy Back,’ containing the song ‘Sexyback’).”

The suit further states that the defendants know that major record labels, recording artists and music publishers do not license their works for use in such pornographic content, especially the type of extreme, sexually explicit videos that defendants produce and distribute.

So, according to the suit, “defendants simply stole these sound recordings and music compositions, synchronizing plaintiff’s works more than 500 times onto the soundtrack of their pornographic videos without license of consent from the plaintiffs.”

Explains AVN: The heart of the allegation of infringement involves content found in “live” club scenes. The complaint gives special attention to the “club sex” videos offered by Reality Kings channels such as “In The VIP” and “VIP Crew,” that allegedly contain “over 200 full-length … videos, comprised of individuals dancing and then engaging in explicit sexual activity.”

The lawsuit contends that there is little if any dialogue in the club videos, which “consist almost entirely of popular musical works, including Plaintiff’s works, which are played throughout filming.” The suit further claims that the fact that preview videos for the “club sex” content found in the Reality Kings tours do not contain the allegedly infringed music proves that “Defendants are well aware that they may not use music without a license.”

Speaking both to AVN and XBiz, Reality Kings’ attorney Larry Walters [pictured] said that RK being a content producer understands the importance and value of copyright. Walters also said they hope to resolve the matter without the need for litigation.

“That being said, there are some important fair use and 1st Amendment issues inherent in this action,” Walters told XBiz.

“It is RK’s hope that we can achieve a resolution to this matter that protects both the plaintiff’s copyright interests and RK’s right to free expression and commentary on popular culture.”

Walters explained to AVN that RK Media that the videos at issue depict actual club scenes with music in the background, and RK does not intend to infringe on any protected works,” he said.

Also at issue in the claim is that the allegedly edited preview videos show intent or prior knowledge of infringing activity.

Walters told AVN, “The absence of copyrighted material on the tours does not show any kind of intent to infringe or guilty knowledge.

“The tours are something that RK is able to control and create music for,” said Walters. According to Walters, the material is there to promote the reality show and that Reality Kings has no control over what occurs in the club and that they’re merely filming what’s actually happening.

“So, yes, it is a different scene,” continued Walters. “It’s an issue of fair use, as to what goes on in the club; it’s a depiction of reality as opposed to the trailers, which RK is able to create and control and place their own music on.”

Walters went on to elaborate about the nature of the fair use defense.

“They’re filming what’s actually going on in the club,” he said.

“And that’s very different than selecting music and putting it on a video tape, and attempting to make a profit from it.”

Walters emphasized that there was no intent to hide anything in the membership area.

“Anyone can sign up for membership and access it,” he said.

“That’s what RK sells to the general public, so it’s not as if they’re attempting to hide a secret club that gets access to the material in the membership area.”

In addition to a permanent injunction against future infringement, plaintiffs are seeking maximum statutory damages in the amount of $150,000 for each infringed work, and allege “hundreds of examples of infringement,” though they say the full extent of the alleged infringement has yet to be determined.