SAN FRANCISCO (Courthouse News] – The 9th Circuit dismissed most claims against a Web provider and billing company for providing services to adult entertainment sites that allegedly used stolen photos.

Perfect 10 sued CCBill and Cavecreek Wholesale Internet Exchange for copyright and trademark infringement, false advertising and violation of right-of-publicity laws. The circuit ruled that Perfect 10’s method of notifying defendants of the alleged infringement – mailing them 22,185 pages of supposedly swiped photos – did not comply with notification procedures because it shifted the burden onto the defendants to figure out which photos they may have infringed.

Perfect 10 claimed defendants ignored “red flags” by providing services to sites such as stolencelebritypics.com, but Judge Milan Smith Jr. wrote that describing photos as “stolen” could be “an attempt to increase their salacious appeal” rather than an admission that they are illegal or stolen.

The circuit remanded to determine whether CCBill blocked plaintiff’s access to its affiliated Web sites, and whether third-party notices should have tipped off the defendants to repeat infringers. See ruling in Perfect 10 v. CCBill.