International Law

Settlement, What Settlement?

By Stan

Sometimes, just when you think a lawsuit is over, you get dragged back in:

Jeboo.com, one of the biggest Chinese online theatre Websites, has filed a suit against five major US movie companies as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Jeboo.com said the defendants’ announcement on March 6 breached its honor and claimed a total of one million yuan (US$142,000) compensation at Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court. The court will hear the case in the near future, according to China News Service.

Just months ago, the defendants, which included Walt Disney, Columbia and Universal, sued Jeboo.com twice over piracy for allegedly airing US movies online without authorization, but settled out of court. Jeboo.com reportedly paid for the so-called unauthorized movies found in two Shanghai Internet cafes, even though the videos in dispute were later confirmed not from Jeboo.com. Jeboo.com paid to show its sincerity and to end the dispute as quickly as possible, the report said. However, the five US movie giants and the MPAA issued statements on MPAA’s official Website saying Jeboo.com had stopped its infringement and apologized for its illegal activities. (Shanghai Daily)

So the judge who approved this settlement is going to see these folks yet again, coming before him/her to complain about post-settlement crap. Judges are not usually amused by these sorts of shenanigans, so unless Jeboo thinks it can really benefit a lot from the PR of this move, it may want to think again about pursuing this.

I’d really like to see the terms of that settlement agreement, wouldn’t you? Particularly the parts that deal with public statements about the case. That would be fun reading.

Full post as published by China Hearsay on March 25, 2008 (boomark / email).