A federal appeals court has ruled that a Czech-based pornography web site can be sued in the United States.
A California Jane Doe sued XVideos.com and its parent company, WebGroup Czech Republic (WGCZ) for posting videos of her after she was sex trafficked as a child, according to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center.
Xvideos Complaint as Filed Jane Doe v. WebGroup Czech Republic Et Al 03-18-2021 by kc wildmoon on Scribd
The center is seeking to have the case made a class-action lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2021.
A lower court ruled that WGCZ could not be sued because it is an international company, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and reversed that ruling, Fox News reported.
“We are grateful that the court ruled for this courageous plaintiff, as it moves her one more step closer to justice,” said Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel at National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE).
Pinter told Fox that one of Jane Doe’s videos had 160,000 views and that the United States provides the company with a majority of its customers.
“The implications for this moving forward are really significant,” said Pinter, who said that there are at least five other cases against pornography sites like Pornhub and xHampster.
Doe’s case will now return to U.S. district court in the central district of California, barring appeal to the US Supreme Court.
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