Disney Loses Beauty and the Beast Profits Trial Over Stolen VFX Tech But Payout Is Minimal Hollywood Reporter | Makemetechie.com Summary
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- The sole claim in the trial was whether Disney should be held vicariously liable for DD3’s alleged infringement of MOVA, meaning it was aware that the company may not have properly licensed the tech but continued to use and benefit from it anyway..
- At the core of the dispute was whether DD3, the company Disney teamed up with on the project, owned the tech that the movie’s principal players attributed to its 10-figure success..
- Of Disney’s $255 million in profits for the film, they attributed roughly $345,00 to use of the tech..
- Part of the verdict, nearly $350,000, is meant to claw back profits attributed to use of the tech..
- Tigar found that Disney “did not know, or have reason to know, of DD3’s alleged infringement before the court held in 2017 that Rearden owned MOVA.” Disney and Rearden didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment..
- U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar found that the companies had behaved “fraudulently” in transferring ownership of the tech among various Chinese firms..
Disney infringed on a VFX companys intellectual property when it used copyrighted technology to animate CG characters in Beauty and the Beast, a jury has found.Siding in favor of Rearden, an Oakla [+2903 chars]