Slixa recently broke onto the entertainer advertising scene, and has been drawing attention from far and wide. Their innovative take on private entertainment advertising has apparently gotten attention from a few of their competitors as well.

According to Lee Ann Jennings, Slixa spokesperson and founder, We had a number of customers contact us asking why CityVibe's new VIP ads suddenly look like our profile pages... In fact, that's how we initially discovered that Vibe Media had basically repurposed our layouts on their own site.î

After receiving no response to a cease and desist, MN Works LLC, parent company of Slixa filed an infringement suit against Vibe Media, owners of the well-established escort advertising platform CityVibe.

CityVibe's new VIP pages feature several elements that did not exist prior to Slixa's release and increase in popularity, all of which are detailed in the official complaint here. The complaint also asserts that Vibe Media knowingly, willfully, and with an intent to defraud accessed MN Works' computers without authorizationî to gain valuable information that could be used against MN Works.

This move by CityVibe puts Slixa's reputation at risk for several reasons:

  • Since CityVibe is already well-known as an adult entertainment advertising platform while Slixa is still establishing itself, people may believe that Slixa has actually stolen Cityvibe's design, rather than the reverse.
  • Consumers may believe that Slixa endorses CityVibe, or is somehow affiliated with the website.
  • The decision to steal Slixa's intellectual property interferes with Slixa's ability to fairly establish themselves as competitors in the industry.
Jennings goes on to say, This is a tremendous slight to our creative team, who has worked hard to produce a truly one-of-a-kind adult services directory.î

MN Works is seeking restitution for attorney fees and any financial losses as a result of this infringement. They are also requesting that Vibe Media remove the stolen design and refrain from further theft, as well as from unlawfully accessing the MN Works computer system.