A few of the biggest blockbusters from the last few years are at issue in a new lawsuit filed against Disney and Marvel for copyright, trademark, and patent infringement. Reardon LLC is the inventor of the MOVA technology, the basis of this suit, which allows an actor’s human facial expressions to be captured and translated into a computer-generated face. This technology has been used in dozens of films, but the suit focuses three recent films: Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Beauty and the Beast.
Reardon alleges that a former employee stole the MOVA technology, and Disney and Marvel should have known that Digital Domain, the company they worked with to capture facial expressions for Beast and Thanos, did not have the intellectual property rights to MOVA. Digital Domain is already prevented from continuing to use MOVA after Reardon obtained a preliminary injunction in a separate case in June.
In addition to damages, Reardon seeks an injunction preventing Disney and Marvel from selling or showing these films and an order compelling them to destroy all infringing copies of the movies.
Source: AWN
