smut men

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The porn family feud that played out in federal court this week ended in a draw Friday when a jury ruled that Larry Flynt's estranged nephews infringed on their famous uncle's trademark when they launched their own smut business, but did not invade his privacy and were not liable for the substantial attorney fees both sides rang up.

The jury of four men and four women rendered its verdict after a four-day trial, during which they sat next to a big-screen TV that was used to repeatedly display blown-up photos of porn DVD boxes featuring naked women on the front and people engaged in all sorts of contortions on the back.

They listened as Flynt, who was paralyzed when he was shot by a white-supremacist sniper in 1978, sat in his gold-plated, velvet-lined wheelchair on Tuesday and Wednesday and testified that in the porn business his name stands for quality. His nephews, he said, were besmirching it by putting that name on "trashy" adult movies.

"The junk they publish hurts my reputation, which in turn hurts my revenue," the gruff, gravelly voiced porn king testified.