Porter v. Horror Central

# Porter v. Horror Central — Case Brief **Plaintiff:** Paul J. Porter (individual) and Big Square Media / Rabid Love LLC (Dripping Springs, TX) — writer, director, and sole copyright owner of *Rabid Love* (2013), appearing pro se. **Defendant:** Horror Central (YouTube channel); VA Media (Valleyarm) and Alexander Nelson-Shine (Sydney, Australia); Acort International / Maxim Media Marketing Inc. dba Brain Damage Films (Arizona); Gravitas Ventures LLC; Shout! Factory, LLC; and Does 1–10. **Core allegation:** Defendants continued to distribute and monetize the motion picture *Rabid Love* (2013) on YouTube and other platforms for more than four years after all license rights automatically reverted to Plaintiff on January 1, 2022, when the seven-year Acort license expired. Gravitas Ventures then purported to assign those already-expired rights—along with 3,332 other titles—to Shout! Factory in April 2025, and VA Media/Nelson-Shine filed a false DMCA counter-notification to defeat Plaintiff's takedown. **Asserted IP:** - Copyright Registration No. TXu 1-868-387 (*Rabid Love*, registered May 15, 2013) - 2013 License Agreement (Rabid Love LLC → Acort International, executed July 16, 2013; terminated January 1, 2022) - Infringing YouTube upload: `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDmafymqDMU` - Bulk Assignment and Assumption Agreement (Gravitas Ventures → Shout! Factory, executed April 4, 2025; recorded U.S. Copyright Office Doc. No. V15037D837, August 28, 2025), entry 00517 (*Rabid Love*) **Relief sought:** TRO/preliminary injunction requiring takedown of the YouTube upload; actual damages, infringer's profits, and/or statutory damages; full accounting of all revenues since January 1, 2022; attorney's fees, costs, and prejudgment interest. **Why it matters:** The Gravitas→Shout! Factory bulk assignment (3,333+ titles, Doc. V15037D837) suggests a systemic pattern of transferring rights in titles whose underlying licenses had already lapsed, potentially exposing Shout! Factory to infringement liability across a large portion of its acquired catalog.