Weingarten Brown: Studio Solutions Group Prevails Against CatchPlay

Nov. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- Weingarten Brown LLP announced today that a Federal District Court Judge tossed out the bulk of Taiwanese-based film distributor CatchPlay’s lawsuit against its client, Studio Solutions Group, Inc. (SSG).  This ruling comes as the latest in a series of setbacks for CatchPlay, including two failed attempts to obtain the distribution rights to highly anticipated Hollywood blockbusters, including Dredd 3D, Looper, and Lawless, from SSG.  In today’s ruling, the Court determined that the crux of CatchPlay’s claims – that SSG acted as its agent for the purpose of acquiring film titles – fails as a matter of law.  

“CatchPlay’s desperate ploy to claim that SSG was its agent and that, by extension, CatchPlay had the rights to every film in SSG’s library was categorically rejected by the Court,” observed Alex Weingarten, lead counsel for SSG. “This was a giant blow to CatchPlay, and it gutted the main theory of their case, which has now been reduced to a few accounting issues.”

Today also marks a significant victory for SSG’s principal and founder, Johnny Lin.  In its five-page opinion, the Court found that CatchPlay failed to state a case against Lin and dismissed him from the action.

Going forward, CatchPlay can no longer attempt to block SSG from licensing upcoming feature film titles – such as The Hunger Games 2 – to distributors of its choice in Taiwan.  CatchPlay is also prohibited from interfering with SSG’s existing contractual relationships with major Hollywood studios.

With the bulk of the case thrown out, all that remains is CatchPlay’s breach of contract claim. However, SSG contends that it is CatchPlay, not SSG, in breach and will counterclaim to recover money still owed under its contracts with CatchPlay.  In addition, SSG plans to file counterclaims against CatchPlay for trade libel, defamation, interference, and unfair completion based on CatchPlay’s improper assault on SSG’s reputation in the U.S. and Taiwanese film industries.

“From day one, CatchPlay has made patently false statements about my client to anyone and everyone who will listen in an underhanded attempt to sour SSG’s close relationships with top industry players.  Not only was CatchPlay’s smear campaign ineffective, but we plan to hold CatchPlay fully accountable for its outrageous conduct,” explained Weingarten.

CatchPlay is owned by Smartphone giant HTC founder and Taiwanese billionaire Cher Wang.  

About Weingarten Brown LLP (www.wbllp.com)
Weingarten Brown LLP is a Los Angeles-based law firm of business trial lawyers with sterling credentials, having graduated from top law schools and formerly practiced with some of the nation’s most prestigious law firms.  The firm’s practice emphasizes entertainment, antitrust, technology, corporate, finance, securities, insurance coverage, intellectual property, and real estate litigation.  The firm represents clients in forums across the nation.