Dions damage continues to haunt Red Light .
avn.com Red Light and Cal Vista Sued by Mile High Canada
By: Jared Rutter
06-29-2004
VAN NUYS, Calif. - Canadian distributor Mile High has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Red Light District and Cal Vista International, Red Light’s foreign rep since its inception.
The suit, according to CVI’s Dani Duran, alleges that Mile High Canada lost between $500,000 and a million dollars when CVI stopped selling them Red Light rights early this year. The second part of the lawsuit claims losses of $500,000 incurred by CVI’s refusal to sell them rights to 1 Night in Paris.
Duran termed the lawsuit “frivolous.” She told AVN.com that the Mile High contract was made with Red Light’s original owner, Dion Giarusso, and that for various reasons it would have to be renegotiated after the company was sold to David Joseph in December.
Duran said that Mile High owner Ted Blitt was informed that Joseph no longer wished to sell him Canadian rights in perpetuity plus compilation rights. “This was all discussed with him when Dion left,” she said. “We asked him if he wanted to renegotiate, but he kept putting it off.”
Regarding the Paris Hilton video, Duran said the only thing Joseph bought from its producer, Rick Salomon, was the right to merchandise the movie, on DVD or VHS, so the subsidiary and broadcast rights were not his to sell.
Red Light and CVI, she said, sold worldwide product rights to a company (which she asked not be named) that owns “a large mail order distribution both here and in Europe.” They have the right to sell the movie everywhere outside the U.S.
“The preorders,” Duran said, “were very large in the U.S., but not as large in other parts of the world, where Paris Hilton is not so popular. We offered [Blitt] the rights to the DVD in Canada but he never got back to us.”
She said that as of July 1 CVI will no longer sell rights into Canada but will instead sell Red Light product directly to distributors (except for the titles already owned by Mile High). They will also sell directly all broadcast, VOD, streaming, pay TV, free TV and cable rights.
As for their relations with Blitt, Duran said, “Nothing personal, but we don’t want to sell our films outright. He bought rights [to some titles] in perpetuity from Dion—and CVI will honor that. But we are not obligated to deal with him the rest of our lives.”
As for the lawsuit, she said, “We’ll take this to our lawyers.”
Mile High’s Ted Blitt was not immediately available for comment.
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