OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A San Francisco special FX company won just under $600,000 from a federal jury Thursday on its claims that Disney vicariously benefited from a copyright violation by using its motion capture technology.
Jurors returned a verdict in favor of Rearden on Thursday, after less than two days of deliberations on whether Disney benefited from Rearden’s facial motion-capture technology to create a lead character in the 2017 film “Beauty and the Beast.” The jury found that Rearden owned the copyright for the MOVA program during the film's production and Disney was vicariously liable for its contracted company DD3's infringing use of the technology.
The jury pegged Disney's profit from the infringement at $345,098 and set the actual damages at $250,638.
A spokesperson for Disney said Thursday that the company is "gratified" that the jury rejected Rearden’s request for $38 million in profits from Beauty and the Beast.
"The jury’s award of less than $350,000 in profits recognizes that the success of Beauty and the Beast was attributable to the talents and contributions of the cast and crew, including more than a thousand people, and the enduring appeal of Disney’s beloved 1991 animated motion picture," Disney said.
Trial in the nearly six-year case has been underway before U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar for about two weeks. During deliberations, jurors sent six notes and on Thursday morning needed a first version of the verdict corrected to state the damages correctly.
Rearden says DD3 made unauthorized copies of its MOVA Contour software, which were used to create Beast for the live-action film. Disney denied DD3 infringed any copyright owned by Rearden, and further said The Mouse is not vicariously liable for any infringement.
The jurors were asked to weigh factors of copyright novelty and ownership in determining Disney's liability for using the MOVA technology, particularly as both sides have warred over how notable the tech was to driving the film’s success. The film grossed more than $1 billion worldwide and Rearden demanded $38 million for the use of the motion capture tech on the Beast.
In closing arguments Tuesday, Disney’s attorney John Spiegel said that the animation giant can't be found liable for copyright infringement by DD3, which was enjoined in 2017 from using MOVA. He said that was because DD3 signed Disney’s agreement representing that it in fact had a license to use MOVA.
But Rearden’s attorney Mark Carlson reminded the jury of Rearden’s claims that the MOVA tech was taken by a former employee, Greg LaSalle and used by DD3, while Disney benefited from the stolen software. Rearden continues to pay taxes and legal fees for pending patents on MOVA Contour assets, he argued, proving it owns those assets. He said Disney clearly used MOVA software for the Beast character and had the practical ability to control DD3’s use of it, yet did not pay Rearden.
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