Gawker.com Sued Over 'Dane's Anatomy' Sex Tape
Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 | Updated 3:03 PM PST
Great Dane saves day in Ladera Ranch.
Actors Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane have sued a celebrity-gossip website.
The lawsuit alleges that a snippet of a saucy videotape of the married couple frolicking with a former beauty queen was "maliciously" posted online.
The lawsuit for copyright infringement, filed in U.S. District Court, contends that Gawker.com leaked four minutes of the video showing Gayheart, 38, and Dane, 36, sharing bed, bath and beyond with former beauty queen Keri Ann Peniche under the headline, "Dane's Anatomy."
Gawker reportedly posted the clip of the trio, in which the women were partially nude, but linked to another site to see more of Dane.
The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages and an injunction preventing any further distribution of the video online.
Gawker publisher Nick Denton posted a response on Twitter: "To quote the great Marty Singer -- Eric Dane's lawyer -- 'If you don't want a sex tape on the Internet, don't make one!'"
The complaint alleges the footage was posted by Gawker "in brazen disregard" for the legal rights and personal privacy of Gayheart and Dane.
Gayheart had a recurring role on TV's "Beverly Hills 90210" in the mid- 1990s, and has more recently guest-starred on "Ugly Betty."
Dane plays "McSteamy" Dr. Mark Sloan on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy."
Peniche, 25, was named Miss Teen United States in 2002 but was stripped of the title after appearing nude in Playboy.
