[1] Defendant George Frena operated an early subscription-based online bulletin board service, Techs Warehouse BBS.

Subscribers to the BBS were allowed to view and download high-quality computerized versions of the images and store the files on their home computers.

PEI's possession of the necessary copyright certificate constituted prima facie evidence in favor of the company.

[1] Further, the court found that by removing the Playboy-oriented logos from the scanned images and replacing them with information about his BBS service, Frena had committed trademark infringement under the Lanham Act, because this act was likely to cause confusion among users as to the true origin of the images.

[1] Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Frena has been frequently cited as an important early precedent in the emerging law of copyright on the Internet, particularly given the technological ease with which unauthorized copies of images can be reproduced and distributed online.