Judge Sets March 22 Hearing on Redoak's Unlicensed DVD Complaint

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach set a March 22 evidentiary hearing via Zoom on plaintiff Redoak Communications’ motions for default judgment against defendants Ronin Flix and Grindhouse Video, said his signed order Thursday (docket 9:23-cv-80008). The hearing also will address Redoak’s motions for alternative service on two other defendants it hasn’t been able to serve with summonses, said the order. Independent film company Redoak’s Jan. 4 complaint alleges 14 defendants, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart are unlawfully selling DVD and Blu-ray copies online of the 1981 horror film Just Before Dawn without a Redoak license (see 2301060023). Amazon countersued Redoak March 1, alleging that under the Supreme Court’s 2013 first-sale doctrine decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons and other case law, “once a unit of a product embodying copyrighted expression is lawfully made, it can be resold in the U.S. without requiring any further authorization from the copyright holder.”