Expert: Dan Pepper - 8/27/2009

Question
My name is Dave. I have a few questions for you.

First off, I'm in a situation where I'm involved doing business with some people that have content that me and a few friends are trying to get onto the internet for them. This content has no papertrail. As in, there were no releases filled out. No legal age records kept. For us to use this material we would obviously have to go back and get these people to fill out the proper paperwork. Is that ok to go back and do that even though it wasn't done in the first place? The content is just a 40 something year old milf that loves to fuck black guys. They probably can't get ahold of most of the guys that she's worked with. If we can't find them, then we'd have to scrap that material because we can't get them to prove they're of age right?

Also, this material was shot in PA and MD. Is it legal to shoot in those states? If it is legal, are there certain things you can and cannot do?

I've also read that you have to keep multiple custodians of record. One for the video that was shot (which wasn't any of us. This material was given to us. Are we then responsible for record keeping?) And another custodian for the website material. Can we just make copies of the 2257 records we kept and use them for all of the different outlets for the media?

Thanks so much!

-Dave

Answer
If you are able to obtain both 2257-compliant identification from the woman, and have an appropriate model release covering the material and the timeframe, you may be able to comply with the 2257 requirements, however if you are unable to find records for the guys, the content as a whole will be non-compliant.  Your ability to use the content legally at all is also an issue if you don't have clear and enforceable releases from ALL of the talent.

The question of "legality" of PA and MD depends upon the nature of the content itself, however the question of whether or not prostitution and similar laws were violated depends upon the nature in which the content was originally produced.  I have posted a number of times about the legality of producing adult content outside of California, so feel free to peruse my earlier posts on this topic.

Multiple 2257 custodian of records are not necessary.  If you are planning on hosting this video (which is probably not advise based upon my comments above), you would be considered a secondary producer under 18 CFR 75 and are responsible for both the maintenance and labeling of the content.