Disney being sued by Starz Entertainment over their Apple iTunes deal

Starz Entertainment has announced that they are suing the entertainment industry giant Disney copyright infringement and breach of contract.

The lawsuit has been filed as Disney has started selling their movies on the Apple iTunes digital store along with Wal-Mart’s online store while they had promised Starz with exclusive access to them.

Starz Entertainment Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Robert B. Clasen spoke on this lawsuit: “Disney has been a great partner. We hope to continue our relationship. But our agreements clearly prohibit them from selling their movies by electronic download over the Internet while they are exclusive to Starz. If Disney is permitted to violate our contract in this manner, it will undermine the integrity of copyright in general which is a cornerstone of our industry.”

The agreement between the two companies states that Disney is prohibited from selling its films for transmission over the Internet prior to Starz’s first exclusive license period and during all of Starz’s exclusive license periods.

Clasen added: “The film studios have been very aggressive, and quite rightly so, in protecting their copyrights, particularly with regard to the Internet. Starz must be equally aggressive in protecting the value of the deal it made. It is especially disappointing to see one of the largest studios ignore so blatantly its own contractual obligations to protect the copyrights it has licensed to Starz.”

Disney was the first store to sell their movies on Apple iTunes.

Popularity: 27% [?]