Los Angeles - Celebrity news blogger Perez Hilton (aka Mario Lavandeira) saw his PerezHilton.com site dropped by its hosting provider yesterday, following numerous warnings against his posting of copyrighted images, Variety reported.

Lavandeira, who also faces four copyright infringement lawsuits filed by a number of photo agencies, maintains his reposting of the images is fair use.

After Australia-based Web hosting provider Crucial Paradigm dropped the site, it was down for several hours before reappearing in a limited form, this time hosted by Blogads.

"We've enabled [Lavandeira] to continue to do what he does to a limited degree until we can figure how to handle the larger situation," Matt Lum, owner of PerezHilton.com manager Hoodlum Productions, told Variety.

"It's a precedent that's huge," Francois Navarre, co-owner of X17, one of the photo agencies suing Lavandeira, told Variety.

"When we were talking to Crucial Paradigm they were saying they were not responsible, dragging their feet. We had to threaten them and show them they were liable. His new host is Blogads, and we're contacting them already."

Related Links:
http://www.variety.com/VR1117967331.html

http://www.perezhilton.com

http://www.crucialp.com

http://www.blogads.com