Disney has filed a new lawsuit against Redbox, alleging that the DVD rental kiosk company is infringing on their copyright. As the Wall Street Journal reports, last month Redbox began taking the digital download codes that are packaged with several Disney DVD and Blu-ray titles and selling them to customers for $7.99 to $14.99. This is possible because, unlike with other studios that the company has deals with, Redbox purchases Disney discs at retail in order to rent them out in their kiosks. In addition to requesting an injunction to stop the sale of these download codes, Disney is seeking up to $150,000 per copyright infringement in damages. While the packaging for Disney’s home releases state that “codes are not for sale or transfer,” a Redbox spokeswoman told the Journal that it is “very confident in our pro-consumer position.”
UPDATE: A Disney spokesperson reached out to us stating, “Redbox is selling our digital movie codes in blatant disregard of clear prohibitions against doing so. Their actions violate our contracts and copyrights, and we have filed this action to stop Redbox’s unauthorized conduct.” 