Fla. lawsuit targeting online cockfighting

MIAMI, July 23 (UPI) -- A federal lawsuit in Miami is attempting to stop the owner of a Web site from broadcasting cockfighting matches in Puerto Rico to all U.S. states.

The Florida lawsuit is attempting to determine whether it is legal for ToughSportsLive.com to broadcast cockfighting matches online to a nation where the practice is illegal, The Washington Post said Monday.

Advanced Consulting and Marketing owner Jason Atkins, whose Florida company created the Web site, argued that such online matches are simply documentaries of the Puerto Rican culture.

"It's a historical sport; they've been practicing it for thousands of years and I'm just documenting it," he alleged.

But the animal rights groups on the other side of the federal suit have cited a U.S. law that made international sales of animal cruelty depictions for commercial gain illegal.

Now at the heart of the suit is an exception in that legislation that allows for such sales to occur if the products are deemed representative of historical or artistic value, the Post said.