IO Group, Inc. v. Veoh Networks, Inc.

Filing 107

Supplemental Declaration of Gill Sperlein in Support of Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment 78 filed by IO Group, Inc. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Papa Deposition Excerpts# 2 Exhibit Dunning Deposition Excerpts# 3 Errata Shapiro Deposition Excerpts# 4 Exhibit Styn Deposition Excerpts# 5 Exhibit Bilger Deposition Excerpts)(Related document(s) 78 ) (Sperlein, Dennis) (Filed on 9/5/2007) Text modified on 9/5/2007 to conform to document caption post by cousnel (bw, COURT STAFF).

IO Group, Inc. v. Veoh Networks, Inc.

Doc. 107 Att. 4

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 1 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN JOSE DIVISION

____________________________ IO GROUP, INC., a California Corporation,

) ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) ) VEOH NETWORKS, INC., a ) California Corporation, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________)

CASE NO. C-06-3926(HRL)

DEPOSITION OF JOHN STYN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA MAY 31, 2007

REPORTED BY REGINA L. GARRISON, CSR NO. 12921

1

Dockets.Justia.com

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 2 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN JOSE DIVISION

____________________________ IO GROUP, INC., a California Corporation,

) ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) ) VEOH NETWORKS, INC., a ) California Corporation, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________)

CASE NO. C-06-3926(HRL)

DEPOSITION OF JOHN STYN, taken on behalf of the Plaintiff, at 530 B Street, Suite 350, San Diego, California, on Thursday, May 31, 2007, at 9:57 a.m., before Regina L. Garrison, Certified Shorthand Reporter, in and for the County of San Diego, State of California.

2

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 3 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

APPEARANCES FOR THE PLAINTIFF: THE LAW OFFICES OF GILL SPERLEIN BY GILL SPERLEIN 69 Converse Street San Francisco, California 94103 [phone], Ext. 32 FOR THE DEFENDANT: WINSTON & STRAWN LLP BY JENNIFER A. GOLINVEAUX 101 California Street San Francisco, California 94111-5894 [phone]

3

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 4 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

A. Q.

No. Did you do it with personal conversations,

either face-to-face or telephone? A. Q. Yes, and e-mail. And e-mail. And how about message boards? A. Q. Yes. What type of programs did you suggest that

people develop? A. I would often just brainstorm, because it I convinced someone to do a Someone was going to

could be anything.

painting show, how to oil paint. do a cooking show. Q.

Whatever their interests were.

You just gave me two examples of programming

that you suggested, and then people actually -A. Q. A. Q. Created. -- created -Sorry. Let me clarify that one. You said that You said someone

someone did do an oil painting show. was going to do a cooking show. actually did the cooking show? A. Q.

Do you know if they

The person I was talking to did not. Do you have any recollection of any people

who you recommended an idea to that then went forward 32

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 5 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

and created your idea and submitted it to VEOH? A. I believe that Yanks Cash, or yanks.com, did

a -- I suggest they put interviews of their talent on VEOH. Q. A. Q. And I believe they did that. Is yanks.com an adult site? Yes. Let me remind you once more to kind of wait You know, it's a natural

until I finish my question.

thing, especially for someone who enjoys communicating with people, to kind of engage that way, so it's kind of hard to break that habit. Did you suggest to people the idea of talking with older people in their neighborhood or something like that and putting it on -- making a video from that? A. Do you have a recollection of that? I don't recall specifically. Certainly

sounds like something I would say. Q. Do you have a recollection of making a

suggestion that people view just the face of someone when they were having an orgasm and putting those together as part of a video collection for publication on VEOH? A. when. Q. I do remember saying that. I still think it's a good idea. You indicated that you -- your involvement 33 I don't remember

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 6 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

where that statute, 18 USC 2257, played any role whatsoever? A. Q. A. Yes. What website is that? I had a site called "pinkgasm.com" that had But it was myself on it, so 2257 I didn't have too many records to

adult content on it. was less relevant. keep.

And I have -- I think I've had -- posted other

adult pictures or links where I linked to 2257, pages of other companies. Q. On the website that you just described, did

you put a label on that website anywhere that indicated where the records were kept? A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. On Pinkgasm? Yes. Yes. And why did you do that? I was copying what people were doing. Was it your understanding that that was a

requirement of the law? A. It was my understanding that that was the

safest route. Q. Let me assure you, most people do exactly the

same thing, get their legal advice by seeing what other people are doing in the arena. 44

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 7 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

When you got involved with VEOH, when you talked about VEOH with Dmitry, were you aware of whether or not video clips containing sexual explicit material would be allowed on VEOH.com? A. Q. Yes. And at the time that you made that

realization, did you think to yourself as to whether or not there may be issues regarding 2257? A. My client that I work with is not US based, But I do

so I don't have a good understanding.

remember thinking that it was -- it should be an issue. And -- and, yeah, I remember thinking that that is something that VEOH will have to address. Q. So after you had those thoughts, did you

bring that topic up with Dmitry? A. Q. Yes. And do you remember when you had that

conversation? A. Not specifically. I know it was before there It was still a

was any 2257 prosecutions or actions.

theoretical idea, and I remember just mentioning it as, definitely, it was the "sky is falling" hot button of the adult industry. Q. How did you know that there weren't any

prosecutions or actions? 45

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 8 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

A. Q.

I'm active on the adult message boards. Earlier, I asked if you had any conversations Did you actively read up on 2257 on the

about 2257.

adult message boards? A. Q. No. But did you read to some degree? I mean, you

just said that you learned there were no legal prosecutions through adult message boards; is that accurate? A. Yes. MS. GOLINVEAUX: It's compound. BY MR. SPERLEIN: Q. Was the part accurate where you said you I'll object to the form.

learned about the lack of prosecutions through message boards? A. Yes. I tried to stay informed enough that

it -- what degrees is it an issue. Q. And then at some point, you had at least one

conversation with Dmitry about your concerns as far as the applicability of 2257 to VEOH; is that accurate? A. Q. Dmitry? A. No. 46 Yes. Did you have more than one conversation with

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 9 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Q.

And again, do you recall when the one

conversation you did have with Dmitry took place? A. Q. No. Do you recall whether it was prior to your

becoming a consultant for them? A. I don't think it was before that. I don't

think I was a consultant at the time. Q. And what did Dmitry tell you at that point

about -- what was his reaction to you bringing this concern to his attention? A. He said he had -- I don't know his exact

words, but he had talked to his lawyers about it. Q. And did he indicate that he didn't think it

was a problem after having talked to his attorneys? A. He seemed to think it was -- whatever he was And with my

doing, he was comfortable with that act.

limited understanding of 2257, I wasn't going to -that was -- the conversation was over. to make sure that he knew about it. Q. A. Q. You brought it to his attention -He said he knew. It's okay. Do you recall if he said anything -- do you recall any specific words? Like, did he say it was "I talked 47 I just wanted

under control or just what you've told me:

Case 5:06-cv-03926-HRL

Document 107-5

Filed 09/05/2007

Page 10 of 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

to my lawyers.

It's okay."

Any more specific words? If you recall. Don't

MS. GOLINVEAUX:

speculate about what Dmitry said. THE WITNESS: words. BY MR. SPERLEIN: Q. But the gist of the conversation was that he I don't remember specific

had explored the issue and was aware of it? A. That he was aware of it and that his legal I didn't get the sense there was

team was aware of it.

resolution or that it was -- it was -- the people that needed to know knew, and they were doing whatever they were doing about it. Q. Do you know if VEOH, at some point, changed

its policy regarding allowing sexually explicit material to appear on VEOH.com? A. Q. A. Yes. And how did you become aware of that? I believe Dmitry told me that the board made

the recommendation, and it was going to happen. Q. And do you recall when Dmitry had that

conversation with you? A. Q. A. No. Prior to the change.

Did Dmitry tell you the basis for the change? Just that the -- the board, you know, wanted 48