Warner Bros. sued for alleged unlawful distribution

The Zweite Academy and the Erste Academy, two German film companies, are suing Warner Bros. for allegedly breaching a settlement agreement. The two companies, addressed in the suit as a single entity "MHF," claim that Warner Bros. is breaching their copyright to the 2004 romantic comedy Laws of Attraction.

In 2012 MHF brought a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over four films: The Whole Ten Yards, The In-Laws, Laws of Attraction and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. The Zweite Academy and the Erste Academy had produced the films and entered distribution agreements with Franchise Pictures, which then offered Warner Bros. licenses for sub-distribution. Franchise filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004, and was bought out by David Bergstein, who acquired Franchise's rights, title and interest to the films. MHF claimed this was done without their consent and invalidated distribution rights afforded to Warner Bros.

In 2013 Warner Bros. paid a $432,578 settlement to MHF, with the stipulation that they would provide MHF with accounting on the films in the future. Now MHF claims that Warner Bros. did not abide by the agreement as promised. The current suit states, "Nevertheless, despite failing to provide Zweite Academy with any accounting or payments due to MHF during the Post-Settlement Period, Defendants continue to distribute and otherwise exploit the Laws of Attraction and/or facilitate the distribution and exploitation thereof. Defendants have also breached and continue to be in breach of their obligations under the Settlement Agreement by failing to make timely payments to MHF in accordance with terms provided in the Settlement Agreement."

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Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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