Redoak Seeks ‘Enhanced’ Statutory Damages vs. 2 DVD Defendants

Independent film company Redoak Communications should be granted its motion for “enhanced statutory infringement” of $150,000 each against defendants Grindhouse Video and Ronin Entertainment for willful copyright infringement and because both have been determined “be in default” for failure to answer Redoak’s complaint, said Redoak’s brief Wednesday (docket 9:23-cv-80008) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach in support of its motion. Redoak’s Jan. 4 complaint alleges Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart and others are unlawfully selling unlicensed DVD and Blu-ray copies online of the 1981 horror film Just Before Dawn (see 2301060023). Neither defendant is “new to the movie business,” and each has “an extensive catalog of titles being offered to the public,” said the brief. Both are “assumed to have full knowledge of the entertainment industry and its licensing and distribution practices,” it said. Yet neither did due diligence to confirm that the physical discs of Just Before Dawn they sold online still had valid distribution licenses, it said. Ronin and Grindhouse “have refused to participate in this litigation, went into default and have thereby admitted the allegations of willful behavior,” it said. 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” (see 2303100001). Walmart answered Redoak’s complaint March 13 with a jury demand, also on first-sale grounds (see 2303140048). Best Buy and Target are due to answer Redoak’s complaint on Friday.