Disney wins bid to overturn $600k 'Beauty and the Beast' copyright verdict

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Disney (DIS.N) convinced a federal judge in California on Monday to reverse a jury's $600,000 verdict that it misused another company's motion-capture technology in its 2017 live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast".

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said the jury should not have found Disney liable for infringing Rearden's copyrights because Disney could not have learned that its motion-capture contractor was misusing Rearden's software.

Spokespeople and attorneys for Disney and Rearden did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision.

Rearden, founded by former Apple scientist Steve Perlman, first sued Disney in 2017. It said that a "rogue" Rearden employee stole its Contour facial-capture technology and took it to another company, Digital Domain 3.0.

The lawsuit said that Disney infringed Rearden's copyright in the Contour software by working with Digital Domain to utilize it in the film.

Rearden sued for monetary damages including a share of profits from Disney's movie. "Beauty and the Beast" earned more than $1.25 billion worldwide, according to Rearden's complaint.

A jury in December awarded Rearden more than $250,000 in actual damages plus more than $345,000 of Disney's profits from the film.

Tigar determined on Monday that Rearden's win could not stand. The judge said that Disney was not involved in the animation process that used Rearden's software and could not have recognized or policed Digital Domain's infringement.

Disney and Rearden settled related allegations in June that Disney infringed Rearden's copyrights while making other movies including "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Deadpool" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."

The case is Rearden LLC v. The Walt Disney Co, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 4:17-cv-04006.