Last week, Palme d’Or Cinemas, an independent movie theater in Palm Desert, won an appeal against Cinemark USA. The owners of the Southern California indie theater filed suit against Cinemark in 2003 after Cinemark opened a theater nearby.
According to the initial lawsuit, when Cinemark purchased the nearby 15-screen theater, The River, the movie theater chain “used its circuit power to shut us out of all titles. They used a predatory booking policy known as circuit dealing.”
Palme d’Or Cinemas’s owners say they were unable to attract any profitable film products and were limited to showing very small films after Cinemark purchased The River. Also, the lawsuit claims that The River began showing art films and independent films as well as big-title commercial films, further monopolizing the market.
To speak with an experienced business litigation attorney about a dispute affecting your business, contact the Orange County business litigation lawyers of Daily Aljian at 949-861-2524 today.