Law Firm Founds Project to Fight ‘Revenge Porn’; Deal Book, 1/29/15

Deal Book, Matthew Goldstein; Law Firm Founds Project to Fight ‘Revenge Porn’ :

"The litigation is the handiwork of a new initiative by K&L Gates, a Pittsburgh-based law firm. Begun in late September, its Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project has roughly 50 lawyers at the firm volunteering their time...

The K&L program not only advises victims as to what legal steps can be taken to sue for damages, it also works with victims to consider the pros and cons of reporting online abuse to prosecutors. In instances where the victims have taken nude selfies or videos of themselves, the K&L lawyers are using the protections offered by federal copyright law to demand that the websites take down the images or risk being sued along with the perpetrators.

More often than not, commercial pornography websites, especially those based in the United States, will comply with a request to avoid any further legal entanglement.

But if a victim wants to bring a federal copyright lawsuit, there is a catch. In many cases, she or he would first need to register any videos or photos to be protected with the United States Copyright Office. In other words, to use copyright law as a hammer, a victim must publicly register a photo or video that she or he would rather no one ever see."