Mr Video told to hand over DVDs

The DVDs were bought in the US and distributed to various Mr Video franchisees. Importing these DVDs was found to be in violation of the copyright rules because Nu Metro was the sole distributor of the DVDs in SA.

The court dismissed an application for leave to appeal against a Western Cape High Court judgment which ordered Mr Video to give up to Nu Metro all the infringing DVD copies of the films in their possession. The appeal court also ruled that Nu Metro had the right to bring an action against Mr Video as Nu Metro had proved that it held valid licences from the Hollywood studios.

In 2007, Mr Video and 22 of its franchisees imported at least 100 zone 1 encoded DVDs from the US and rented them to the public without consent from Twentieth Century Fox, Disney Enterprises or Warner Bros Entertainment. Mr Video also supplied their customers with a pamphlet describing how local DVD players could be “decoded” to play zone 1 films.

Copyright proprietors in the film industry have, for the purpose of controlling the distribution of their films territorially, divided the world market into six “zones”. SA is in zone 2. Playback equipment sold in each zone is encoded for that particular zone.

Nu Metro and the studios had applied for an interdict against Mr Video and the franchisees. They had also asked for an order that the offending copies of the relevant films be delivered up, and that costs be awarded.

In June last year, the high court ordered Mr Video to deliver up all copies in their possession of the various listed films, other than zone 2 copies obtained through authorised distributors. The court also ordered Mr Video to pay Nu Metro's costs, including the cost of two counsel and to pay the costs of the studios on a punitive scale.

Acting Judge of Appeal Noel Hurt, supported by four other judges, said that Nu Metro and the studios had established that Nu Metro had been appointed as the only local distributor of the films.

John Oxenham, director at law firm Nortons, which represented Nu Metro and the Hollywood studios, welcomed the judgment.

“The judgment also sends a strong signal to other DVD rental outlets that they must comply with the applicable copyright legislation.

“Furthermore, the judgment is of great benefit in providing clarity on the rights of copyright holders to the broader South African DVD rental market,” he said.

Source: Business Day

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