Ninth Circuit Revives Trafficking Claims Against XVideos and Xnxx

PASADENA, Calif.—A panel of three judges before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that a lawsuit alleging trafficking claims against adult tube websites based in the Czech Republic can proceed.  In an opinion published on January 2, the panel said that a federal district court does have jurisdiction over a proposed class action against the parent companies of XVideos and Xnxx. These two sites are owned by the WebGroup Czech Republic and NKL Associates. Both sites are affiliated and are connected to businessman Stephane Pacuad. One of the primary reasons claims brought against the two sites by a Jane Doe plaintiff were dismissed is due to personal jurisdiction disputes.  The suing Jane Doe says that alleged claims of illegal conduct in the United States market and the fact that a large percentage of users come from IP addresses from across the country justifies personal jurisdiction.  “Where, as here, the relevant contacts with the forum consist of directing a content-sharing website at the U.S. market, we have little difficulty concluding that the plaintiff's publication-based harms arise out of those forum-related activities," the court decided. Another indication of having jurisdiction can be found in the fact that XVideos and Xnxx utilized U.S.-based content delivery networks and were widely utilized cloud and web services that retain data on servers owned by a set of multinational American technology companies.  Jane Doe alleges that Xnxx and XVideos engaged in the distribution and profit of child sexual abuse material depicting her abuse when she was 14 years old, Law360.com reports.