On July 17, 2014, Douglas Jordan-Benel sued Universal Studios, United Talent Agency and screenplay writer, James Demonaco, claiming the movie The Purge is based on his screenplay, Settler’s Day. Jordan-Benel alleges in his complaint that he submitted his screenplay for consideration to United Talent Agency around July 8, 2011, but the work was ultimately rejected. […]
Tag Archives: movies
Furious Producer Sues Universal for Pulling a Fast One
On Wednesday, film producer Neil Moritz filed suit against Universal Studios for breach of oral contract and promissory fraud. Moritz was the lead producer on all eight Fast and Furious films. The dispute centers on his involvement with the forthcoming franchise spinoff Hobbs and Shaw, scheduled for release next August. In his complaint, Moritz alleges […]
Redbox Squares Off Against Disney
In the most recent litigation battle between powerhouses Disney and Redbox, Redbox triumphed as a federal court judge rejected Disney’s request for an injunction. In its initial lawsuit filed in December, Disney alleged that Redbox was in violation of their contract and of Disney’s copyrights due to its sale of download codes for Disney movies. […]
Redbox Accuses Disney of Copyright Protection Abuse
As Disney is gearing up to establish its own streaming service, it has started cracking down on unauthorized digital downloads of its works. In November 2017, Disney sued the video rental company Redbox for breaching the terms and conditions of their licensing agreement as well as violating Disney’s copyrights in their motion pictures. In the complaint, Disney […]
HBO Hacker Indicted on Counts of Fraud and Extortion
According to The New York Times, the man behind the cyber attack on HBO this summer has been indicted on charges of wire fraud, computer fraud, identity theft and extortion. Behzad Mesri, an Iranian national, hacked into HBO’s system under the pseudonym “Skote Vahshat”, where he stole data from May to August. Additionally, Mesri released […]
Happiness and Sadness are Not Batman and James Bond
Over the summer, Disney and Pixar were sued by childhood development expert Denise Daniels over the film Inside Out. She claims that the film was based on her TV show, The Moodsters, and that she was uncompensated for her work. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, there are some similarities between the two films as both conceptualize the emotions as […]
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Director Furious Over Lost $7M Bonus
Warner Bros is being taken to court in Australia over breach of contract claims brought by George Miller. Miller claims that Warner Bros breached contract in denying him his $7 million bonus for “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Miller says that the company agreed to pay him the bonus in the event that he did not […]
Disney in Talks to Acquire 21st Century Fox Assets
As first reported by CNBC on November 6, the Walt Disney Company recently held preliminary talks with 21st Century Fox about buying its entertainment business, including the Fox movie studio, the FX cable network and the UK – based television service Sky. The potential asset acquisition may allow Fox to focus on its news and […]
Disney, Not Pleased Knock-Off Party Characters, Sues
Disney doesn’t want you to hire “Big Hairy Guy,” a Chewbacca lookalike, for your child’s next birthday party. Disney and its corporate affiliates have filed a lawsuit against Characters For Hire, LLC (“CFH”) for copyright and trademark infringement. Though CFH changes the names of many of its characters, such as Darth Vader to “Dark Lord,” […]
Lights, Camera, (No?) Action for The Screening Room, the Spotify of Films
Billions of dollars are at stake in the quest to provide the best movie going experience—excluding massive revenues from concessions and DVD sales, in 2015 alone Americans spent over $11.7 billion on movie tickets. The Screening Room, one of the newest and hottest Hollywood start-ups, has the potential to usurp the quintessential profit-making aspects of […]