(2007)
MARON PICTURES LTD. v. Eigen
This is a dispute between the owner of a film and the agent hired to license and distribute the film. Plaintiff and appellant Maron Pictures Ltd. entered into a Sales Agency Agreement (SAA) with defendant and respondent Mainsail, LLC to license and distribute Maron Pictures’s film “Strength and Honour”.
Mark Mahon is the president and managing member of Maron Pictures Ltd. He wrote, produced, directed, and financed the film “Strength and Honour”. Mahon was not an established filmmaker when he made “Strength and Honour” and he has claimed throughout this action that he used his life savings to make it. The film has been shown at film festivals worldwide and has won awards.
In April 2009, Maron Pictures entered into the SAA with Mainsail. The SSA gave Mainsail the exclusive right to distribute the film worldwide. Maron Pictures was required to “deliver” film and video elements to Mainsail within two weeks of the date of the SSA. Mainsail in turn would deliver the film and its elements to entities who would broadcast the film, show it in theaters, or sell it in DVD format.
After signing the SSA, defendants repeatedly notified Maron Pictures that its delivery was incomplete. Even after defendants entered into several licensing agreements for the film, defendants continued to view Maron Pictures’s delivery as incomplete. Maron Pictures took the position delivery was complete by September 17, 2009, with the exception of an errors and omissions insurance policy it was obligated to purchase under the agreement. Maron Pictures contends defendants then agreed to purchase the insurance and subtract the cost from Maron Pictures’s revenues from the film’s distribution.
In January 2010, defendants released the film in some locations. Maron Pictures believed the trailers, covers, and “one sheets” used by defendants violated the terms of the SAA. Primarily, Maron Pictures believed the unauthorized items were a breach of its agreement with one of the film’s leading actors. On January 22, 2010, after defendants failed to respond to Maron Pictures’s requests to change the trailers, covers, and one sheets, Maron Pictures sent a “cease and desist” letter to defendants, instructing them to stop “distributing” the film.