(2000)
TROMA ENTERTAINMENT v. Centennial Pictures Inc.
In October 2009, Troma authorized one Lance Robbins to represent it in negotiations concerning the licensing of distribution rights to “Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV” and “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” to a German distributor. Such authorization was supposed to lapse after thirty days if no agreement was reached. Thirty days passed with Robbins apparently unable to negotiate a deal with a German distributor. At least that was what Troma’s officers thought.
As it turned out, Robbins, in cahoots with codefendant King Brett Lauter, had, a week prior to receiving authorization, entered into a distribution license in Germany with an outfit called Intravest Beteiligungs GMBH. Troma alleges that Robbins and Lauter falsely assured Intravest that they owned the rights to the films; purchased, as any retail customer might, German-language DVD copies of the films from Amazon.com’s German website; delivered those DVDs to Intravest; and pocketed the proceeds of the agreement, without ever notifying Troma that the agreement even existed. None of these actions is alleged to have taken place in New York.
Troma learned in August 2010 that Intravest, “via pay-per-channel distribution on Silverline AG’s Movie Channels,” had been broadcasting Citizen Toxie and Poultrygeist in Germany. Troma filed suit on March 7, 2011, against Robbins, Lauter, and two entities that are no longer parties to this litigation, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Its complaint alleges copyright infringement under federal law, and state law claims of common law fraud and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.