October 26, 2000 02:19pm
Judge Reverse Himself on DudeDorm.com
Source: ENI
by: Company Press Release
(ST. PETERSBURG, FL) -- A circuit court judge today reversed His earlier ruling that had threatened to shut down DudeDorm.com, a controversial Web site that provides a 24-hour Internet window into the lives of male college students. Attorneys for owners of the site, Entertainment Network, Inc., hailed the decision of Judge Thomas E. Penick as a victory for anyone who operates a Web site from a private residence.
Judge Penick ruled that the Lake Forest Condominium Association of Pinellas County, Inc. must go to trial if it wants to boot DudeDorm.com out of the condo near St. Petersburg where up to six young men live. ENI pays their college tuition and in return the men carry on their lives before live Webcams. The broadcasts are watched daily by thousands of DudeDorm.com members, most of them female, who pay a $24.95 monthly fee.
Attorneys for ENI and its president, David Marshlack, argued that the dorm should be allowed to continue operating from the condo because other home businesses operate from residences in the Lake Forest condominium complex. After a two-hour hearing, Judge Penick vacated his earlier order that would have closed DudeDorm.com. Instead he ordered both sides to prepare for a trial.
"This is an important decision for people anywhere who operate a Web site from their home," said Mr. Marshlack. "In this case, the condo association objected to us on moral grounds, even though we have no impact on our neighbors. We're a dude dorm, not a nude dorm. We hope to be establishing case law that will protect the rights of Internet entrepreneurs."
ENI also operates the internationally acclaimed VoyeurDorm.com, a similar site with female college students that also faces a legal challenge from the city of Tampa. Hearings are scheduled for next month in U.S. District Court, and a trial is expected to begin in December on ENI's attempt to have a city ordinance overturned.
Tampa-based Entertainment Network, Inc. is a leading supplier of content for the Internet. In addition to Web sites that reach consumers directly, Entertainment Network operates Web hosting and development companies.
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