Adult Victories and Experience
Walters Law Group is proud of its reputation providing legal representation to members of the adult entertainment industry. Our experience and familiarity with the sex industry has contributed to our many successes over the last two decades. Below are a few highlights of some of our victories and accomplishments on behalf of the adult industry.
From XBIZ NEWS: “Chaturbate Scores Victory in Cybersquatting Complaint”
“…Industry attorney Lawrence Walters, of Walters Law Group, represented Chaturbate.com’s parent company in the case. Walters told XBIZ: “Chaturbate.com aggressively defends its trademark rights and does not tolerate this type of blatant cybersquatting. The company has invested substantial resources into its brand recognition efforts, and it will continue to pursue infringers that come to its attention.””
From XBIZ NEWS: “MyFreeCams Scores Victory in Cybersquatting Case”
“…The parent company of cam site MyFreeCams.com recently scored a victory in a cybersquatting case decided over the domain name MyFreeCamShow.com. The domain name MyFreeCamShow.com, as a result of the decision, was ordered transferred to MyFreeCams.com’s parent, which has operated its popular network for 15 years. Industry attorney Lawrence Walters, of Walters Law Group, represented MyFreeCams’ parent company in the case.”
From XBIZ NEWS: “U.S. Judge Sides With JuicyAds in Piracy Suit”
“…Walters, upon comment this afternoon, said Wu’s decision was a paramount one for the adult entertainment traffic sector. “The defense team views this decision as a victory for both JuicyAds and for the online advertising industry,” Walters told XBIZ. “Unchecked efforts to hold distant online service providers responsible for indirect copyright infringement has the potential to stifle innovation.””
From AVN NEWS: “Walters Scores Win in Florida Obscenity Case, With More to Come”
“…First Amendment attorney Lawrence G. Walters has scored another victory in a Florida obscenity case—and as might be expected, it was a case brought in Polk County. And he’s hot on the trail of another crime against free expression, this time in Pittsylvania County, VA…”
Read the full article here: “Obscenity Charges Against Fla. Store Owner Dropped”
“‘…There will be no jail time, no conviction and no fines’ for Minakashiben Patel, adult industry attorney Lawrence Walters told XBIZ.
Walters and another adult industry attorney, Corey Silverstein, represent Patel and worked together to strike a deal with prosecutors.
[…]
‘The obscenity charges have now been dismissed per an agreement with the state, where Ms. Patel agreed to make a $2,000 donation to a drug education and prevention fund,’ Walters said. ‘She further agreed to abide by existing state obscenity laws and not to sue the sheriff or prosecutors as a result of the arrest.
‘Corey Silverstein and I are proud of the result we obtained for our client in this instance,’ he said. ‘Ms. Patel was facing five years in prison on the felony charge, alone, plus additional time on the misdemeanors. She is happy to put this matter behind her, and continue operating her small business in Polk County. ‘…”
From AVN NEWS: “Walters Scores 2nd Win in a Week, This Time in VA Zoning Case”
“…prominent First Amendment attorney Lawrence G. Walters offered his services to defend Post, and told AVN that there were several problems with the county’s case, including the fact that ‘adult entertainment’ isn’t even mentioned in the zoning code, and that ‘since there is no specific authorization for adult material, that means according to them that it must be prohibited, which is the reverse of what the Supreme Court has said, and that is that adult entertainment has to be permitted as a matter of right, and if you don’t make those provisions in your zoning code, then the code’s invalid and the stores can operate anywhere.’…”
From XBIZ NEWS: “Va. Adult Store Prevails in Case Against County”
“…Lawrence Walters, the Florida-based adult entertainment industry attorney, who took on the case pro bono said that Shhh’s operators are ‘thrilled with the outcome.’
‘[They look] forward to operating a successful adult business for years to come,’ Walters told XBIZ. “Fortunately, the county realized that a zoning ban on adult businesses would never be upheld by the courts and agreed to resolve this matter without expensive litigation.
‘Our client will be grandfathered into any future adult use ordinances adopted by the county, and will be refunded the fees incurred in filing the zoning appeal,’ he said. ‘Overall, this is a total victory for our client.’…”
Mr. Walters is proud to hold a position as General Counsel for the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance (WSFA).
Woodhull envisions a world that recognizes sexual freedom as the fundamental human right of all individuals to develop and express their unique sexuality; to be personally autonomous with regard to bodily integrity and expression; and to enjoy sexual dignity, privacy and consensual sexual expression without societal or governmental interference, coercion or stigmatization. –
“A Lakeland-based appellate court has not yet released its opinion explaining why it freed an alleged Internet pornographer from jail. The 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered that Christopher Wilson be immediately released on Dec. 29 from the Polk County Jail…”
Walters wins client’s immediate release from jail in controversial obscenity case: Full Article…
“The twenty-eight-year-old founder of nowthatsfuckedup.com, a site where guys swap sexually explicit shots of their wives and girlfriends, was arrested in October at his Lakeland, Florida, home — a raid in which Wilson was cuffed and his computer seized. Now he’s out on bail and possibly facing life in prison after being hit with one of the stiffest obscenity charges in the history of the Net. But there’s burgeoning doubt over which dirty pictures really landed him behind bars: the site’s quotidian porn or its hundreds of graphic images, allegedly uploaded by U.S. soldiers, of dead Iraqis.”
Rolling Stone Magazine coverage of the case here: Full Article…
From AVN NEWS: “AEE Legal Panel Hits All Industry Need-To-Know Buttons”
“…Walters spoke first to the standing-room-only crowd, summing up the anti-industry actions of President Bush’s first term; activity which Walters termed “testing of the waters.” Along the way, Walters reminded the audience of the PROTECT Act, the new 2257 regulations, the continuing injunction in the COPA case, the Lawrence v. Texas decision, the anti-gay marriage laws passed in November in 11 states, the increased Republican majorities in Congress, the impending nominations of new Supreme Court justices and the impending confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as the new Attorney General. Walters stressed the need for education of industry members as to their legal rights, and for involvement in protecting speech rights in their local communities…”
From AVN NEWS: “Get Walters: A Chat with First Amendment Attorney Lawrence G. Walters”
“…AVN Online: Why do you do this?
Lawrence Walters: When I first began practicing law in the late ’80s, I accepted a position with a ‘silk stocking’ law firm representing banks, construction companies, and insurance associations in Daytona Beach, Fla. When the State Attorney began prosecuting small local video store operators for obscenity violations, I felt compelled to provide some assistance, even though I was a young buck just out of law school. The prosecutions involved such classic titles as Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, which had been out for 20 years. I could not believe that people were being arrested and threatened with jail time for renting adult videos to adults….”
New York Times Discusses Novel Defense involving Google Trends in Obscenity Case:
“[T]he defense lawyer, Lawrence Walters, is arguing that the evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that interest in the sexual subjects exceeds that of more mainstream topics — and that by extension, the sexual material distributed by his client is not outside the norm.”
–New York Times covers creative use of Google Trends evidence in obscenity case June 24, 2008
“Sometimes, in order to see where you are going, you have to look at where you have been. History can often be the best predictor of the future, particularly in law enforcement matters. Given the promised wave of obscenity prosecutions to be brought by the Justice Department against adult webmasters, and others involved in the industry, the time is right to take a look back at the very first obscenity prosecution against an adult Website; the case of Tammy & Herbert Robinson.”
Lawrence Walters tells the story of his victory in the first obscenity case against an adult website: View PDF…
