I specifically said it looked like Redbox could lose because of the wording issue. That doesn’t mean I support the action or think it is right, though.

We need more people to stand up for what is right, not just what might pass as “legal” in our currently ridiculous legal system. People filing lawsuits just because they can is not something that is right, but as long as everyone is complacent or think they are entitled to everything, it will stay that way.

“financial services firm Merriman Curhan Ford found that Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, a popular animated film, was only stocked in around two-thirds of the more than 50 Redbox kiosks it checked. On November 14, the firm checked the same kiosks again and found the DVD stocked in 94% of the boxes.”

So basically they prove that people returned the movie afterwards.

WTF?

This type of lawsuit has been filed multiple times in the past and it always wins.

Get rid of the emotional responses and look at things from a realistic standpoint. Redbox screwed up with their terminology. It will cost them some money. Move on.

I see the same thing happening here. The wording from Redbox will have to change, and lawyers will have to be paid.

Sigh…Whatever happened to Caveat emptor. Whatever happened to common sense. Whatever happened to you get what you pay for.

While it appears there may be some legal precedence for this case to win based on wording, anyone who supports this is either a fool, a liar or simply an opportunist.

If anyone thinks the lawsuits Redbox has against the studios are bad, this is 100x worse.

Basically, someone was too lazy to return their DVDs in a timely manner, and are now looking for some way to place the blame on anyone but themselves. This is a mentality that is becoming all too commonplace these days, and I can only hope that the plaintiff and these money-grubbing attorneys who took this case get this case tossed out and are forced to pay Redbox legal fees.

They’re going to be spending more time & money in the legal system than they’re going to in sending employees out to buy retail movies of Warner, Fox, & Universal.

Lawyers in class-action Redbox suit launch site

PHYSICAL: RedboxLateFees.com provides updates on the case
By Susanne Ault — Video Business, 11/18/2009
NOV. 18 | PHYSICAL: Lawyers behind the late-fee class-action lawsuit against Redbox have launched a Web site to locate additional plaintiffs and offer education about the case.

At the site http://www.RedboxLateFees.com, people can figure out if they are eligible to join the suit. There also will be regularly posted updates about the case and other related news items relating to Redbox.

The lawsuit alleges that Redbox unfairly dings customers $1 for every day past the paid one-night rental that the DVD is not returned to machines. It notes that Redbox touts a ‘No Late Fees’ policy.

In particular, the suit cries foul that the $25 charged for titles kept more than 24 days is more than triple Redbox’s used-DVD sales price and amounts to unfair business practices.

At the time of the suit’s filing, Redbox said that it didn’t comment on pending litigation.

I welcome anyone with differing opinions from redbox, Shane or myself to share their thoughts here, including those from VBG or any other companies who have a bone to pick with Redbox.

We share the news, no matter what it is, and everyone’s thoughts and opinions are welcome. Bring it on! :)

Regarding your question of traffic lost – there has been no decrease in traffic, and in fact we have seen an increase over the past month or so. I don’t think the amount of traffic was related to those particular users, but it did result in more comments and discussion, which is always welcome.

Let’s see what happens with a G, PG or PG-13 title. These are the real money makers for the studios.

I suspect they are including the additional copies of Crank 2 that would have been “sold” to Redbox. Since Lionsgate and Redbox have signed a deal that gives Lionsgate almost double their normal market share in a Redbox it would likely mean an additional 5 copies over 20000 boxes for an additional 100,000 units in “sales”.

However, Lionsgate will be getting a fractional return on those additional units as opposed to if they had sold through normal venues.

So they may say there was “no cannibalization” but the likely cost to Lionsgate because of the Redbox deal is probably around 3-4 hundred thousand dollars in revenue from the title.

Accounting and spin is so much fun isn’t it Redbox and Lionsgate?