Twentieth Century Fox has filed a motion to dismiss what it calls the “meritless” lawsuit that DVD rental kiosk company Redbox filed against it in August. Redbox is suing because Fox wants to impose release delays—essentially, giving itself time to sell more DVDs before the kiosk company rents them for $1 a pop—and accused the studio of copyright misuse and violation of anti-trust laws, among other things. In its filing, Fox claims that there are three reasons why Redbox has “no viable legal case:”

—It hasn’t refused to supply Redbox with DVDs—the two companies just could not agree on pricing and other terms.

—Fox could have chosen to keep all its movies out of Redbox’s kiosks once the negotiations fell apart, but it didn’t. Instead, it told third-party distributors to wait 30 days after a DVD release before they could sell it to Redbox

—Antitrust law does not require a seller to make its product available to a buyer on all the buyer’s terms (price, distribution channel, or date); it’s only applicable if the deal terms “injure competition.”

Redbox is suing Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. over the release window delays. A judge most recently dismissed the kiosk rental company’s claims of copyright misuse and contract interference against Universal—but he let the bigger anti-trust claim stand. It appears that Fox is trying to get out in front of its own potential anti-trust problem from the onset.

Opening Brief in Support of Fox’s Motion to Dismiss

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