Vivid Entertainment Group can go forward with a lawsuit against Playboy Enterprises following a ruling by California Superior Court Judge Ralph W. Dau.
The adult-film studio filed suit against Playboy in April, alleging that the adult-entertainment giant violated terms of a 10-year film-output agreement for broadcast of Vivid films on cable networks, including Playboy Channel, and as part of adult video-on-demand packages.
The suit also alleged that Playboy failed to pay significant amounts mandated by agreements that were part of its purchase of three cable networks from Vivid in 2001.
“The suit will affirm that we had the right to terminate an agreement that Playboy has violated and we are now free to negotiate with third parties and to compete with Playboy,” Vivid co-chairman Bill Asher said in a prepared statement. “We anticipate that the eventual result of this lawsuit could be worth tens of millions of dollars to Vivid, and we are looking forward to proceeding to the discovery phase.”
