Federal Judge Slaps Down Disney's Injunction Request Against Redbox

DooKey

DooKey

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In a surprise move a federal judge in California has denied Disney's injunction request against Redbox to stop them from selling download codes of their movies. To further salt the wound the judge has also found that Disney has engaged in copyright misuse. Ouch! It sounds like a dude named Karma has pimp-slapped Disney hard on this one.

"This improper leveraging of Disney’s copyright in the digital content to restrict secondary transfers of physical copies directly implicates and conflicts with public policy enshrined in the Copyright Act, and constitutes copyright misuse. Accordingly, Disney has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its contributory copyright infringement claim."
 
It's worth reading the article for the actual explanation. Assumptions and the pull quote are misleading about what was decided upon and why. It is interesting though.
 
I understand where Disney is coming from in this instance. They offer a free digital download with the purchase of physical media and Redbox is turning around and reselling the digital download codes.
 
Disney is a big part of why copyright law is so screwed up with their lobbying and contributions to keep getting the life of a copyright extended to what is now unreasonable.
 
NeoNemesis said:
I understand where Disney is coming from in this instance. They offer a free digital download with the purchase of physical media and Redbox is turning around and reselling the digital download codes.
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It doesn't matter. Once you physically buy something it is yours. If Redbox buys the Disney movies at full retail (which it is) then they should have the right to do what they want with the digital codes. Redbox isn't infringing on a copyright anymore than if I were to buy a movie, watch it, and sell the code to a friend of mine. At least what Redbox is trying to do is re-coop some of the cost of having to buy Disney movies full retail.
 
zamardii12 said:
It doesn't matter. Once you physically buy something it is yours. If Redbox buys the Disney movies at full retail (which it is) then they should have the right to do what they want with the digital codes. Redbox isn't infringing on a copyright anymore than if I were to buy a movie, watch it, and sell the code to a friend of mine. At least what Redbox is trying to do is re-coop some of the cost of having to buy Disney movies full retail.
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That the problem as Disney is so stuck-up it ain't funny as ever Disney movie show up late as redbox.
 
zamardii12 said:
It doesn't matter. Once you physically buy something it is yours. If Redbox buys the Disney movies at full retail (which it is) then they should have the right to do what they want with the digital codes. Redbox isn't infringing on a copyright anymore than if I were to buy a movie, watch it, and sell the code to a friend of mine. At least what Redbox is trying to do is re-coop some of the cost of having to buy Disney movies full retail.
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The disc sets clearly state that the download codes are non-transferable. Redbox is keeping the discs to use as rental income, while selling the download copy. It is not unreasonable for Disney to place a value on the download codes as separate from the discs as the very fact that Redbox is profiting from them separately proves this.
 
PantherBlitz said:
The disc sets clearly state that the download codes are non-transferable. Redbox is keeping the discs to use as rental income, while selling the download copy. It is not unreasonable for Disney to place a value on the download codes as separate from the discs as the very fact that Redbox is profiting from them separately proves this.
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But Disney's word is not law. Yes they clearly state that the codes are non transferable, but that has no legal backing. I can clearly state that any attractive woman is obliged to perform sexual favours for me, but just because I said it does not mean it is the law.
 
Master_shake_ said:
Huh?
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You do know that Redbox buys all the Disney movies at full retail and they never show up on time which ever Tuesday at Redbox locations you be lucky to get one by friday or even Saturday.
Just watch there one come out next month called CoCo which should have come out on Feb, 27 2018 but it was moved to March, 2 2018.
 
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PantherBlitz said:
The disc sets clearly state that the download codes are non-transferable.
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Except that the judge said that part was BS. :)

This week, US District Court Judge Dean Pregerson ruled that Disney’s request for a preliminary injunction won’t be allowed to move forward. Not only did he decide that Redbox can happily continue selling the download codes at a bargain price, but he explained to Disney that its stipulation that “codes are not for sale or transfer” doesn’t constitute a contract. Citing Norcia v. Samsung, the judge wrote that “silence or inaction does not constitute acceptance of an offer.” He then took the company to task saying that “this improper leveraging of Disney’s copyright in the digital content to restrict secondary transfers of physical copies directly implicates and conflicts with public policy enshrined in the Copyright Act, and constitutes copyright misuse.”
 
I am pretty sure that Redbox isn't the first to buy a combo and sell off the download code. Has Disney pursued all other offenders? Have they even cared up to this point? This doesn't seem all that different then buying a keyboard/mouse combo with a free game code and selling off the game code.

As one article on this said, Disney is likely to litigate this until victory or we evolve into intelligent gas clouds.
 
Damar said:
Except that the judge said that part was BS. :)”
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Let's see if the appellate court agrees with this statement:

"this court cannot agree that a 'particular material object' can be said to exist, let alone be transferred, prior to the time that a download code is redeemed and the copyrighted work is fixed onto the downloader’s physical hard drive. Instead, Disney appears to have sold something akin to an option to create a physical copy at some point in the future. Because no particular, fixed copy of a copyrighted work yet existed at the time Redbox purchased, or sold, a digital download code, the first sale doctrine is inapplicable to this case."

So ... this judge is saying that there is no infringement because the copy does not exist until it is downloaded. This reasoning makes little sense in the digital age.
 
PantherBlitz said:
So ... this judge is saying that there is no infringement because the copy does not exist until it is downloaded. This reasoning makes little sense in the digital age.
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The laws of this country are light years behind technology and will likely never catch up. Changes to laws and new laws are a long slow process, technology changes overnight. I sadly doubt this will ever change. Judges try to adapt "on the fly" and sometimes it works ok, sometimes not. I give him credit for at least attempting to think it through and not just handing Disney a win by default because they have more money than God at this point.
 
"What Disney pointed out was that inserts in the packaging stated, "Codes are not for sale or transfer," and that the RedeemDigitalMovies and Disney Movies Anywhere web pages additionally conditioned use on a user representing that he "is the owner of the physical product that accompanied the digital code at the time of purchase."

When I read this, my first thought was, when Disney is done going after Redbox, win or lose, they're going to go after the people that bought the codes and used them. :(
 
NeoNemesis said:
I understand where Disney is coming from in this instance. They offer a free digital download with the purchase of physical media and Redbox is turning around and reselling the digital download codes.
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BRILLIANT_.jpg
 
Wait.... so that means I can sell all my digital game codes from bundles that I bought but don't play? I paid for them, I should be able to do what I like with them? Or is that different because of the TOS?

I understand Disney's point here, Redbox is reselling their codes. But I guess there isn't a binding TOS that says they can't... and it isn't covered in the copyright laws....hmmm.

I read that article and it just made my head hurt.
 
I should probably put a little more effort into it but this seems like an opposite judgement of that guy that was selling the recycled PC's with Windows discs/keys,
 
Burticus said:
Wait.... so that means I can sell all my digital game codes from bundles that I bought but don't play? I paid for them, I should be able to do what I like with them? Or is that different because of the TOS?

I understand Disney's point here, Redbox is reselling their codes. But I guess there isn't a binding TOS that says they can't... and it isn't covered in the copyright laws....hmmm.

I read that article and it just made my head hurt.
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There are multiple websites where you can sell your unused game codes on. Just do a search for buy whatever game and then add the word code.
 
You can tar and feather me if you want, but all this means is that Disney (and other studios) will stop offering these bundles or will create a way to link the two to make resale impossible. Whatever the outcome it won't be good for consumers.
 
These sales are often advertised as "multiple copies for one low cost". Once the sale is made, the customer owns that media (both physical and digital) and can determine its disposition thereafter according to U.S. copyright law. The digital media is tied to a unique physical identifier which makes the digital media no different than a disc. And thus, a customer may keep their Bluray disc, sell the DVD copy to a friend and offer the unique ID for the digital download for sale on eBay! This judge gets it!
 
shspvr said:
You do know that Redbox buys all the Disney movies at full retail and they never show up on time which ever Tuesday at Redbox locations you be lucky to get one by friday or even Saturday.
Just watch there one come out next month called CoCo which should have come out on Feb, 27 2018 but it was moved to March, 2 2018.
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i didn't understand your first statement.
 
From https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...t-to-stop-resale-of-star-wars-download-codes/
But James Grimmelmann, a copyright scholar at Cornell Law School, is skeptical that the ruling will survive an inevitable appeal from Disney.

"I don't see this one sticking," Grimmelmann told Ars. Copyright misuse has such sweeping legal implications that an appeals court will be reluctant to apply it to a common movie industry practice.​
...
If the ruling were upheld, it would amount to a de facto ban on tying download codes to physical DVDs. In that case, it's almost certain that Disney and other movie studios would stop offering download codes altogether to prevent the development of a broad market in resold download codes.​
 
If Redbox wins this case you can kiss ALL movie download codes being offered goodbye. Thanks RedBox, what will you do when you successfully eliminate download codes?
 
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