Credit card companies aren’t liable when someone uses their charge card to buy purloined pornography, a federal court in San Jose, Calif., ruled Monday.
Ruling from the bench, U.S. District Judge James Ware tossed out a copyright and trademark infringement suit brought against Visa International Service Association and MasterCard International Inc. by Perfect 10 Inc., which publishes an adult magazine and operates an adult Web site.
Perfect 10 claims hundreds of Web site operators around the world are selling its trademarked images of women — and that the credit card companies that process these transactions are liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.
Andrew Bridges, a partner in Winston & Strawn’s San Francisco office representing MasterCard, said Perfect 10 was trying “to impose a commercial blockade on anyone accused of infringement.” Ware found the credit card companies “are not obliged to manage their merchants away from infringement,” Bridges added.
For this complete story, please visit Federal Judge Tosses Porn Purveyor’s Copyright Suit Against Credit Card Companies.
