MET ART

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MET ART is a website featuring photographs of partially or completely nude women. It has been online since 1999.^[1] As of May 2007, it was among the 500 most visited websites according to Alexa Internet.^[2]

The MET in MET ART originally stood for "Most Erotic Teens."^[3] The site is focused on solo female softcore content, and does not cover images illustrating penetration, masturbation or other such direct sexual activities. Usually the pictorials are close in nature to the Playboy magazine, although with a wider range of models and styles.^{[original research?]}^{[citation needed]} Currently, the site is updated three to seven times a day. ^[4]

MET ART traditionally introduces picture sets with pages that resemble magazine covers. MET does, however, sell archives of selected photo shoots and movies on DVD.

MET ART features artistic productions created by photographers from various countries around the world, including but not limited to: Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, USA, Brazil, and Australia.

MET ART was one of the first Internet site to propose High Resolution video clips of erotic nature.^{[citation needed]} Clips are up to HDV resolution (1280x720).

On December 21, 2005, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Long Island City, New York, lodged a complaint against Met-Art owner HLP General Partners Inc with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center claiming that three domain names, including met-art.com, were too similar to its numerous registered MET trademarks. METLIFE was also concerned that 'sexually explicit material' on the Met-Art websites would tarnish METLIFE's reputation. In 2006, the complaint was dismissed by the WIPO because it 'does not meet the standard for establishing bad-faith registration and use of the Domain Names under a Policy designed to provide quick relief against egregious cases of cybersquatting'.^[5]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is sometimes colloquially abbreviated to Met Art or The Met.(Art).^[6] ^[7]

On 20 March 2007, Met-Art contacted Google Inc to ask them to remove a blog under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because "The sole purpose of this blog is to post stolen adult content from us and other sites and distribute it illegally".^[8]

Under a deal finalized in early January 2008, quote: WebQuest Inc. will manage the websites and webmaster affiliate program of HLP General Partners Inc., aka Met Art. WebQuest will work to enhance Met Art's current websites, implement a full-featured affiliate program and build a portfolio of new cutting-edge sites and content offerings.^[9] WebQuest is a web development company, whose clients include Vivid Entertainment and Girls Gone Wild. ^[10]

Met-Art is owned by HLP General Partner Inc, of Santa Monica, California,^[11] a Texas corporation that is the sole general partner of Hydentra, LP, a Delaware limited partnership. Texas corporation records show that the Officer of HLP General Partner is Maurizio Maranghi of Woodlands, TX.^[12] As the company is a partnership it can be assumed there are other owners apart from Maranghi. An Italian website has the teen-beauty.com website being owned by Maranghi, and lists an address in Milan, Italy.^[13] Hydentra LP operates it's Met-Art business in the Greater Los Angeles Area.^[14]

In 2003/2004, Maurizio Maranghi was one of the Major Donors to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, ^[15] and in 2004 and 2006, made donations to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.^[16] ^[17]

[edit] Content summary

The primary features of the site: This site contains pictures of women in close physical contact with each other, and also has pictures of women that are in solo acts.

Multiple daily softcore picture galleries in about 6-12 Megapixel resolution, with archives from 2003 and onwards.
Short movies in DivX, iPod, MPEG, Windows Media Video, H.264, and PSP formats.
Moderated live cam shows with chat and private shows. The regular cam shows do include nudity and are part of the subscription, with no requirements of e.g. purchasable "tickets". The private shows are however purchased, and intended for a more personal interaction with the models, not necessarily more hardcore content. Actually, this is not guaranteed at all, still being a softcore web site.
Search engine on hair and eye color, photographer, and so on.
A few full length DVD movies for purchase (not included in subscription).
A few books for purchase (not included in subscription).