 Lawsuits have hit a new low with Roxbury Entertainment suing Penthouse Media over trademark infringement of some crappy 1960's TV show no one cares about that happens to be named after a public highway -- Route 66!
Route 66, a porno of the same title that based on the box cover description, is just about driving down a road and fucking, appears to have nothing to do with the mainstream TV Show that maybe your parents watched, but nevertheless, this is the real deal (PDF) on the Central District of California court dockets. In fact, even Roxbury admits as much themselves in the claim:
The content of Defendants' pornographic film and DVDs contains no 'story' or 'road-related adventure transpiring on and around Route 66.' Rather, the film is pure pornography with no more than a few seconds of dialogue, making no reference to Route 66 or adventure on the open road, preceding the oral and anal sex between and among various men and women, the film's only story, a 'story' which all takes place at the apparently fictitious 'Pink Motel' and not on the open road or anywhere near Route 66.
Is this company trying to defend the honor of the road or its business? They go on to say how this film has little to do with Route 66 and even driving:
In Defendants' [Penthouse Media] pornographic film and DVDs, no mention is made of the Highway 'Route 66' by any of the 'actors,' nor is there any footage of the actual 'Mother Road' or the American towns, people and culture which make up this iconic highway. Defendants' pornographic film and DVDs could much more accurately be called 'Sex in and Around the Pink Motel,' since it has absolutely nothing to do with 'Route 66'...
It sounds like they are arguing that a porno named after a road which fails to capture the cultural significance of said road must then be illegal trademark infringement despite not having anything to do with the TV Show outside of a shared title? Speaking of which, there are plenty of spoof titles in the adult industry that parody mainstream films such as Saving Ryan's Private's and My Best Friend's Woody (both Gay films), and then there are the more overt ones such as The Young and the Restless (also a Gay film).
Unfortunately, this isn't the only lawsuit of an adult film title, as Teravision had to recently pull their XXX-Box DVDs off shelves due to a Microsoft lawsuit. Their film will have to get new box cover art before it can be sold again. Yet, Baby Doll Pictures' XXX Box, which even appears to use a modified X-Box logo on the front and back cover, has remained untouched.
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