geraghtyvl
Prosecutor
Posts : 9143
Join date : 2010-10-12
 | Subject: Hollywood Docket: Bones Lawsuit Update  Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:52 pm | |
| http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hollywood-docket-louis-cks-legal-869097 via @thr —The first order of business for a judge overseeing a massive profits participation lawsuit over Fox's series, Bones, is deciding whether the fight belongs in a public courtroom or must go to private arbitration. Executive producer Barry Josephson and stars Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz are pursuing claims they've been shortchanged tens of millions of dollars through sweetheart licensing deals, self-dealing, improper allocations and wrongful charging costs. All told, a series that reaped more than $500 million in revenue through its first seven seasons was allegedly operating at a deficit, meaning no profits. In response, Fox is latching onto an agreement to arbitrate arising from a so-called "distribution controls" provision. The plaintiffs argue that Fox is trying to "jam a square peg into a round hole" by making too much of the self-dealing claim that contends 20th Century Fox licensed the show at an artificially discounted rate to the company’s affiliated distribution channels. According to a memo in opposition to arbitration, the plaintiffs say the "Complaint does not contest Defendants' rights to control the distribution of Bones... Rather, the Complaint essentially alleges that Defendant 20th TV had contractual and implied contractual obligations to properly account to Plaintiffs and to pay them their fair share of profits, that it failed to do so, and that the other Defendants conspired with 20th TV in underpaying Plaintiffs." | |
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