A 35-year-old, New Jersy woman, MaryAnn Sahoury from Wood Ridge is suing Iowa production company Meredith Corp. for the use a breast-feeding demonstration video as porn video by a third party.
Sahoury appeared in an instructional video on how to breast-feed with her month-old daughter for the company in January 2010, the segment was meant to be broadcast on Parents TV, instead she found out later that a third party got hold of the video and has been using it since as a pornographic video, she is holding the company responsible for leaking the tape.
"I didn't get paid to do this. I didn't want to be some sort of celebrity...I did this to help other moms," as reported by the Associated Press.
Last week, a federal court judge ruled that Sahoury had sufficient evidence to proceed in her lawsuit against the production company. According to a contract signed, the company assured that her full name will not be used in the video, but when she searched for herself on Google she was directed to a porn video website, where her full name was used. Then she tried using her daughter's name and once again she was directed to the same pornographic video site.
"It was terrifying...It was like I can't even control my life and it was spiraling out of control," she told the Associated Press.
In addition, the 35-year-old mother says that the video was made exclusively for Parent TV and her contract stipulated that the video will not be placed on any social media or internet sites, however the video can be found on YouTube.
The production company released a statement saying it was "appalled" by the misuse of the video, but also stated that since "Ms. Sahoury signed a full release for herself and her daughter," they were protected from liabilities. Never the less, the company filed for take-downs of the video across the Internet.
Sahoury is suing for prohibiting orders from using the video in addition to attorney's fees. It is unclear as of now whether or not she seeks financial compensation or monetary redress.
