Vertical Limit

(2000)   Tags: Columbia

Rezec v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.

In marketing its films, a motion picture studio advertised films by falsely portraying a person as a film critic for a newspaper and attributing to him laudatory reviews about the films. Certain film viewers filed this lawsuit seeking injunctive relief, restitution and disgorgement.

Defendant Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., released four motion pictures in 2000 and 2001 entitled “Vertical Limit,” “The Animal,” “A Knight’s Tale,” and “Hollow Man.” Without the knowledge of senior management, one of Sony’s employees, who created advertisements for these films, inserted quotations attributed to David Manning, who, according to the ad, worked for the Ridgefield Press in Ridgefield, Connecticut, as a film critic. But no one by that name worked at the Ridgefield Press, and the quoted material had not appeared in that newspaper.

Judgment: The order denying defendant’s special motion to strike is affirmed. The parties are to bear their own costs.  [Sony settled the case for $1.5 million]