Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Idaho

Early video releases...prior to official release date

In a conversation with a video store owner the other day I was talking about a location that released dvds before the ''official release date''. He went into a tirade about getting his business shut down, losing his business license, etc. Finally my question.

Is there a law/statute that prevents a video store owner from releasing a dvd as soon as they take possession of it? Or is this simply a contract between the distributor and the store owner? Owner clains to never have signed a contract with the distributor.


Asked on 10/29/06, 10:00 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Anderson Anderson Business Law LLC

Re: Early video releases...prior to official release date

Unless they're illegal bootlegs (which would be enough for them to get shut down and arrested), they absolutely will have a contract with the distributor (COpyright owners would never release DVD's etc to distributors without one).Your friend should get a copy of a pre-release DVD and notify the studio.

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Answered on 10/29/06, 10:14 am


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