Fox and Paramount slapped with stolen technology claims
Media companies 20th Century Fox and Paramount have been accused of using stolen motion capture technology in lawsuits filed by Rearden, a firm created by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Perlman.
Yesterday, July 24, Rearden filed copyright and trademark infringement lawsuits against Fox and Paramount at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.
According to the claims, Rearden developed MOVA Contour Reality Capture, a motion capture technology.
This form of technology is typically used to create a 3D animated character in a film or video game that moves exactly like a human performer, Rearden explained.
MOVA’s computer program is the subject of US copyright registration number TXu001977151, and the trademarks ‘MOVA’ and ‘Contour’ are protected by US registration numbers 3,843,152 and 3,628,974, respectively. The company also owns a number of patents for the technology.
Rearden claimed that, beginning in October 2012, an employee of the company had been in negotiation with China-based Digital Domain 3.0.
The employee was then hired in 2013 by Digital Domain which, according to the suit, took possession of the MOVA Contour physical apparatus and began “secretly offering” its services to motion picture studios, including Fox and Paramount.
Now, the tech company is seeking an injunction against Fox to stop its distribution of “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb”, “Fantastic Four” and “Deadpool”, which has grossed $783 million.
Rearden is also trying to stop Paramount from distributing “Terminator: Genisys”.
The tech company seems to be on the war path—just last week it sued Disney over the same technology, seeking an injunction that would prohibit Disney from distributing “Guardians of the Galaxy”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Beauty and the Beast”.
Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and representative of Rearden, said: “We believe these defendants were all well aware that the MOVA Contour rig, Contour software, and related IP belonged to Rearden.”
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