Oh look, it's a tattooed, pierced and dyed catfight.

[Shockeye]

Suicide Defense

How a punk-porn empire is trying to protect its piece of the pie.

BY IAN DEMSKY | idemsky at wweek.com

It's not just tattoos, titties and discussion threads—this is business.

The best-known name in alternaporn, www.SuicideGirls.com, filed two federal lawsuits recently that take aim at competitors and former models.

The unfair-competition and economic-interference lawsuits are trying to stop former models from baring all in other goth, punk and emo venues or revealing information about the company on the Internet.

In two separate legal actions filed in September and October and seeking unspecified damages, SG is going after the owners and operators of the website GodsGirls.com (which is still under construction but already has a thriving presence on several online communities) for allegedly bogarting its trademarked style and trying to cherry-pick its stable of models. And it's suing www.gloomdolls.com for posting damaging, behind-the-scenes confessions of an ex-model that the company says breach a confidentiality agreement the model signed. The lawsuits were filed in Portland because the company, founded in Portland in 2001 and now headquartered in Los Angeles, maintains an Oregon business license.

The suits, filed by SuicideGirls.com's parent, SG Services Inc., follow the defection or booting of about 30 popular models last fall, some of whom launched blogospheric critiques of SuicideGirls' female-friendly image and attacked male co-founder Sean Suhl as a misogynist.

SuicideGirls.com claims to be more than just a place where wankers can get their fill of nearly 900 pin-up girls adorned with piercings, unnatural dye jobs and inked arabesques. The site's 1 million weekly visitors and paying members can also interact with each other and the models through blogs and discussion boards, as well as buy merchandise bearing an iconic bust and the letters "SG." Only about 20 percent of the site's traffic involves ogling the racy pictures, co-founder Selena Mooney told the court in a brief filed Dec. 27, 2005.

The site's popularity and mainstream recognition, however, have eroded some of that outsider cachet. "SuicideGirls is the Wal-Mart of alt-porn," a former model said in an October New York Press article.

"I think the Suicide Girls fail to understand that the country we live in is called America," GodsGirls founder Annaliese Nielsen told WW. "They can't just file lawsuits to take opportunities away from any kind of competition."

In its suit, SG said the GodsGirls site had infringed upon its look by using a lot of pink. "SG uses pink to identify its brand in the same way Tiffany's uses canary blue on boxes," Mooney says in court filings. When a model is chosen, she receives her very own pair of pink SG panties.

"I didn't know you could own a whole color," Nielsen says. "They're strong-arming everybody."

"SuicideGirls has literally tens of dozens of other competitors that have sprung up since we have launched," Missy Suicide (Mooney's SG moniker) told WW in an email. "[W]e have never gone after any of them. [GodsGirls.com is part of] a hardcore porn conglomerate that has maliciously set out to destroy my business.... [W]e have no choice but to react and defend our rights under the law." She also wrote that WW "would prefer to print the sensationalist rumors propagated by the internet haters that plague every successful business in the digital age rather than portray the reality of the situation." But Missy refused to discuss specifics of SG's grievances.

About a dozen of the roughly 60 GodsGirls models have prior SG connections, says Nielsen, who has backing from Offworld Media Group Inc., which runs such websites as olderwomen.com, twinks.com and fullbush.com. One user on a Livejournal group titled "Tales from the Dark Site" joked, "Where do Suicide Girls go when they die? God's Girls." Nielsen reportedly told an SG attorney in September that it made sense to tap into the built-in fan base of the models who "had a following."

SG also appears to be arguing that a standard release the models signed gave them exclusive rights to all their images, not just ones appearing on SG's site.

The second suit was filed against New Mexico-based Gloomdolls (which was down for "legal maintenance" when WW tried to check out the gloom this week) after the site posted confessions of an ex-model that SG claims violated a confidentiality agreement she signed and encouraged visitors to default on their SG membership payments. SG was successful in having the model's diatribes removed from other websites.

Attorney Scott Oliver, father of Gloomdolls owner Erin Oliver, declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it might jeopardize ongoing settlement negotiations.

[schild]

In other useless news, they just offered me a year for $29. I am so taking them up on that.

[Shockeye]

In other useless news, they just offered me a year for $29. I am so taking them up on that.

People like you ruin porn for the rest of us.

[schild]

In other useless news, they just offered me a year for $29. I am so taking them up on that.

People like you ruin porn for the rest of us.

Oh, comeon. I'm sure you can still find somewhere to get some lolita goth porkers with minimal effort. And I swear, if you post fat Yuna in response to this.....oohhh...to the moon.

[Shockeye]

Do you know how hard it is to find some decent non-tattooed, non-freaky-dyed, non-weird-piercings porn these days? It's because of people like you that I have to suffer. Fuck you, bub.

[schild]

Do you know how hard it is to find some decent non-tattooed, non-freaky-dyed, non-weird-piercings porn these days? It's because of people like you that I have to suffer. Fuck you, bub.

It's not hard.

[schild]

Do you know how hard it is to find some decent non-tattooed, non-freaky-dyed, non-weird-piercings porn these days? It's because of people like you that I have to suffer. Fuck you, bub.

It's not hard.

That's what she said.

[schild]

Do you know how hard it is to find some decent non-tattooed, non-freaky-dyed, non-weird-piercings porn these days? It's because of people like you that I have to suffer. Fuck you, bub.

It's not hard.

That's what she said.

You sly rogue.

[Bunk]

SG also appears to be arguing that a standard release the models signed gave them exclusive rights to all their images, not just ones appearing on SG's site.

Can't say I've ever heard of a model release that covers photos taken by another photographer. How cool, I'll get a model to sign a release and then try to lay claim to every other picture ever taken of her. Yeah. Right.

Oh, and Goth prOn can be hot.

[Paelos]

Goth porn makes you sterile.

[Llava]

I can point you to some nonfreaky porn, Shockeye.

But I do agree, nipple piercings especially are far too common in the porn world.  Stop doing that, I keep imagining my lip getting caught on it.

[Shockeye]

Goth porn makes you sterile.

And blind.

[Strazos]

My school's paper had a 4 page spread of coverage on SG last semester.

All I could say is...wtf.

Excessive piercings are bleh. Excessive tattoos are bleh. Freaky hairjobs whose only purpose is to be "edgy" and shit is bleh.

[Sky]

I like some goth chicks.

What I don't like are the botoxed and silicone bitches that ruined mainstream porn. Die in a surgical accident you sick freaks.

[schild]

I find the lawsuit kind of interesting. I mean, it's 100% Godsgirls trying to ride on the phat money boxes SG is flying around with but they have a much stupider name and a stable of meh models. To say that their strangling competition is a bit extreme though. They're simply the best at what they do. The interviews (for the most part) are very good, everything is pretty much softcore, the boards are thriving, the level of taste in music, games and movies is above average, and the entire package is one of the most tight pieces of web design I've ever seen. The rest of the knockoffs like this are fly-by-night websites that are trying to sell the women. SG could stop putting up new photosets and probably retain 60-70% of it's revenue. The goddamn place has become a giant community.

Also, Strazos, you have lots of rules. You're doomed to loneliness. Learn to embrace the excessive piercings and whatnot, because a lot of them - gamers. You'll find more gamer girls among goth/punk (not hobo punk, you know kids that dress cheaply because it's What To Do), than pretty much any other cross-section of people.

[SuperPopTart]

Goth porn is becoming part of the norm really fast.

I bring you:

http://www.spookygirls.com

[schild]

Goth porn is becoming part of the norm really fast.

I bring you:

http://www.spookygirls.com

That's hardcore goth porn. Suicide girls suceeds where that site doesn't by not showing the girls getting it on. Once a dick gets it's way, credibility is destroyed. SG would fall apart over night if they went that route. Note - I'm not calling SG art in any way. It's porn. It's just not the sex part. It makes the girls look like girls instead of meat.

[Paelos]

Goth porn is becoming part of the norm really fast.

I bring you:

http://www.spookygirls.com

They are looking for models apparently. And photographers.

[Strazos]

Also, Strazos, you have lots of rules. You're doomed to loneliness. Learn to embrace the excessive piercings and whatnot, because a lot of them - gamers. You'll find more gamer girls among goth/punk (not hobo punk, you know kids that dress cheaply because it's What To Do), than pretty much any other cross-section of people.

I suppose what is "excessive" is also subjective.

And in all honesty, most of the "gamers" I have met IRL have also been idiots unfortunately. I'm not holding my breath...

Bringing this up was also largely irrelevant.

[schild]

You think everyone is an idiot "irl." You're the only person I've met who's opinion of average dude is lower than mine. It's painful to watch, read, and hear about.

[Paelos]

You think everyone is an idiot "irl." You're the only person I've met who's opinion of average dude is lower than mine. It's painful to watch, read, and hear about.

The irony is that Strazos is actually an idiot.

[WayAbvPar]

You think everyone is an idiot "irl." You're the only person I've met who's opinion of average dude is lower than mine. It's painful to watch, read, and hear about.

The irony is that Strazos is actually an idiot.

Ok, I actually lol'ed.

[Strazos]

You think everyone is an idiot "irl." You're the only person I've met who's opinion of average dude is lower than mine. It's painful to watch, read, and hear about.

Stop reading around modifiers. They're there for a reason.

[schild]

I don't even know what that means.

[Strazos]

... most of the "gamers" ...

You think everyone

[Paelos]

... most of the "gamers" ...

You think everyone

That's hardly a scathing retort.

[Strazos]

It wasn't meant to be. Namecalling and personal insults are pointless.

[schild]

It wasn't meant to be. Namecalling and personal insults are pointless.

Forget it. It's not even worth it. Just stop talking.

[Paelos]

Aw I was enjoying this. I haven't had much to do this morning. It's rainy.

[Shockeye]

Aw I was enjoying this. I haven't had much to do this morning. It's rainy.

There's always suicidegirls.com. Maybe schild will let you borrow his recently renewed subscription.

[schild]

Aw I was enjoying this. I haven't had much to do this morning. It's rainy.

There's always suicidegirls.com. Maybe schild will let you borrow his recently renewed subscription.

You're just sad no one caters to your suspender porn.

[Furiously]

I have a couple links for you shockeye. Schild doesn't know what he is talking about.

[Merusk]

Hey share the linklove, plz.  Knakwurst is all I've got these days, other than some softcore teaser stuff.  And I agree tats & piercings are overboard as much as silicone and botox these days.

[WayAbvPar]

Knakwurst is all I've got these days,

Please tell me that isn't what is sounds like. Not that there is anything wrong with it.

[Murgos]

Knakwurst is all I've got these days

I am so not googling that word.