Commercial pornography producer Vivid is taking the website PornoTube and its parent company to court for copyright infringement.

PornoTube is based on user-submitted videos in the same way as YouTube, although the site shows adult-only clips. But Vivid Entertainment, one of the world's largest pornographers, has now filed suit against the site and its owners AEBN claiming copyright infringement.

"Upon information and belief, [the] Defendant's business plan depends on the uploading, posting, display and performance or copyrighted audiovisual works belong belonging to Vivid and others," the suit reads.

"In other words, Defendants deliberately and knowingly built a library of infringing works to draw internet traffic to the subject website, enabling them to gain an enormous share of the internet traffic, increase the value of their businesses and earn vast amounts of revenue in the process."

The suit, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles, asked for a permanent injunction against the site as well as damages and fees.

The case mirrors that of Viacom and YouTube, where the media giant sued the online video site for copyright infringement. Other organisations took a similar hard line and YouTube was forced to clean up its site.