Redbox Won't Cave To Warner Bros. Demands; Will Buy WB DVDs From Other Sources And Rent Them
from the good-for-redbox dept
With all the talk of movie studios trying to create a new window between DVD releases for sales, and DVD releases for rentals, it’s sometimes forgotten that Redbox tried to fight this fight a few years ago… and ended up in a big legal battle with the studios, before caving and agreeing to delay rentals. However, it appears that the company may be ready to fight back again. Rather than accept an increased 56 day window with other annoying restrictions, Redbox is apparently telling Warner Bros. to take its dumb idea and to shove it, because it’ll just buy the DVDs from alternative sources:
However, after lengthy talks between WB and Redbox this month, the companies couldn’t come to an agreement over the new demands from the studio.
Instead, Redbox has opted to turn to “alternate means” to purchase the films on DVD and Blu-ray it makes available to rent for as low as $1.20 a night through its more than 28,000 kiosks — and offer them the same day they hit store shelves to buy, according to Redbox senior VP of marketing Gary Cohen.
This could get interesting, because the last time they had this fight, the studios sought to block companies like Walmart from selling to Redbox, and Walmart put in place some restrictions to make it harder for Redbox to do this. I still think Redbox could potentially crowdsource these purchases, and get around any restrictions.
Either way, it’s stories like this that show why the First Sale doctrine is so important. Redbox should be able to buy from alternative sources and then be free to rent those movies. And that’s the case due to “first sale” rights — even if Warner Brothers wants to pretend they don’t exist.
Filed Under: copyright, first sale, movies, rentals
Companies: netflix, redbox, warner bros.