Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart take nude tape to court

The brouhaha over the naked video featuring "Grey's Anatomy" actor Eric Dane, his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, and one-time Playboy model Kari Anne Peniche had died down in recent weeks. Until Dane and Gayheart fired it back up on Wednesday.

The couple has filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media and journalist Mark Ebner for releasing the video and, they claim, refusing to remove it when issued a cease-and-desist order.

The suit argues that Gawker exhibited "brazen disregard for plaintiffs' legal rights and personal privacy" and "maliciously distribute[d] an uncensored copy of the video," according to court documents obtained by Radar Online.

Gawker.com posted a PG-13 version of the video in August, and sister site Fleshbot put up unedited footage, which shows all three parties naked and chatting. As of Wednesday evening the videos were still active on both sites.

Here's the kicker: The suit also accuses Gawker Media and Ebner, whom the Danes claim gave Gawker the footage, of copyright violation. For real -- the court documents say Dane and Gayheart registered the video with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Gawker says it hasn't received the court papers yet, but owner Nick Denton responded thusly on his Twitter feed: "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!'"

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