Mystery Buyer Seeks to Acquire, Bury Kardashian Tape

LOS ANGELES—A Tennessee attorney says his client wants to buy all rights to the best-selling Kim Kardashian sex tape from Vivid Entertainment, and studio founder/co-chairman Steven Hirsch says he is "intrigued" by the offer. Attorney Adam Dread of the Nashville firm Durham & Dread PLC wrote Hirsch on August 29 saying he was approached recently "by a private party who has asked us to look into the possibility of acquiring all rights (and copies) of the (Vivid) 'Kim Kardashian Sex Tape.'" Mr. Dread said his client "does not intend to distribute or broadcast the 'tape,' but hopes to completely remove it from the market." "I was surprised to receive the letter from Mr. Dread offering to buy kimksuperstar.com, and at first I thought it wasn't real, but after reading it through a second time I'm convinced it's genuine and I'm intrigued," Hirsch said. He noted that the tape, which features Kardashian in steamy, explicit sexual scenes with her former boyfriend, rapper Ray J, has become the all-time best-selling release in the Vivid-Celeb collection, which also includes sex tapes made by Pamela Anderson, Kendra Wilkinson, Montana Fishburne and others. "I am willing to talk with Mr. Dread, but his client should be prepared to negotiate with its long-term value in mind."  In addition to the master copy of the title, the buyer represented by Dread also wants any raw footage and outtakes omitted from the finished XXX Vivid-Celeb DVD.  The website TMZ.com, which broke the story of the offer by Mr. Dread's client, has speculated that the buyer could be construed as Kardashian herself because of a line in the letter that said, "We would purchase any other footage you may have control of that involves Ms. Kardashian." TMZ said its sources wouldn't confirm that Kardashian is behind the request, but did say she has previously shown interest in buying the rights to the tape. Ray J is never mentioned in the letter.