CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Attorneys for Rodax Distributors, which operates as Caballero Home Video, told AVN.com that they settled the lawsuit today which they had filed against Sunshine Films over alleged copyright infringement. The case went before Judge Dean D. Pregerson in an Encino, Calif. Court room.
Both Eugene M. Salute, who represented Sunshine Films and Odyessey Video Group in the case, and Stanley Stone, an attorney representing Rodax, were adamant about all details of the settlement being strictly confidential.
“The only information we are permitted to give is that the case has been settled,” said Stone.
Salute additionally said that he thought his clients were happy with the settlement.
At issue was whether Sunshine had the rights to distribute Caballero’s Swedish Erotica line in videocassette and DVD formats. Caballero contends that it has licensing rights from Caballero Control Corporation Ltd., a separate entity, for distribution of its content.
Sunshine, along with fellow defendants Odyssey Video Group and Sunshine Operations Manager Joseph Shemesh and Rita Shemesh Duak, an officer with the company, said in documents that Rodax had rights that covered only one-hour videocassettes and film and not DVD, since that format was not outlined in its 1993 contract with Caballero Control.
The DVD format did not exist at the time.
According to its response to the lawsuit, Sunshine and Odyssey claim they had reached a licensing agreement with Caballero in 1992 or about a year before Rodax signed its distribution deal with Caballero to distribute its Swedish Erotica Hard titles.
Rodax was seeking undetermined compensatory and punitive damages in addition to recovering attorney's fees and court-related costs.
