Content Delivery Networks – could porn change how the internet works?

OnlyFans is a subscription based content platform, similar to Patreon, but that has a strong bias towards adult content.

Deniece Waidhofer is an adult model that posts images of herself on OnlyFans for her subscribers. Different subscription levels allow access to different content.

Cloudfare is a CDN (content delivery network) provider that reduces physical distance between end user and content host by ‘mirroring’ servers and hosting cached versions of websites in multiple places. End users are then directed to the most proximate host, resulting in faster load times, which is highly desirable for content-heavy websites that rely on the end user experience to maintain hits, and therefore profits.

Thothub is, allegedly, a website that hosts pirated OnlyFans content. It is a customer of Cloudfare.

Waidhofer sued Thothub this summer, and named in that lawsuit Cloudfare as well as several advertisers, on the basis that they had either infringed her copyright directly (in the case of Thothub) or benefitted from and failed to prevent that infringement (in the case of Cloudfare and the advertisers).

While Waidhofer has, on the face of it, a very good infringement claim against Thothub, it is her case against Cloudfare which is more interesting and important. If Cloudfare is held liable for the infringing content provided by Thothub but distributed by Cloudfare’s network of servers, then the very existence of CDN services will be under threat. If CDN providers risk infringement liability, then they will naturally cease to deal with any but the most bona fide websites, and the ability for smaller startup internet companies and content distributors to reach all corners of the globe without loadup delays will be seriously diminished.

We will wait to see how the California Federal Court will rule on this issue, and expect that should it find Cloudfare liable, there will be at least one level of appeal.

If you have any questions about this or any other IP issue, please get in touch with the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000, or by email at legal@mcdanielslaw.com.