WILMINGTON, Del. — NCR sued a trust set up by Blockbuster in a bid to continue licensing the company’s name for movie-rental kiosks.
The Blockbuster Express name, design and related trademarks are held by the BB 2009 trust, NCR said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. Blockbuster, once the largest video-rental chain, sold its assets to Douglas County-based Dish Network in April for about $320 million.
Dish rejected the NCR contract and sent the company a termination letter, NCR said. NCR, based in Duluth, Ga., builds kiosks, often placed in grocery and convenience stores, where customers can rent and drop off movies. The company, which branded more than 9,000 kiosks with the Blockbuster name, pays for use of the brand and collects all revenue from rentals.
“NCR has undertaken significant time and expense in establishing and operating kiosks throughout the United States branded with the trademarks, and has earned substantial revenues from those operations,” Melanie Sharp, an attorney representing NCR, said in court papers filed Friday.
Blockbuster transferred its interest in the trust to Dish as part of its asset sale, according to court papers. NCR contends that the trust wasn’t included in the sale because it wasn’t part of Blockbuster’s bankruptcy filing. In addition, only the trust has the right to terminate the license, not Dish, NCR claims.
“We do not have any comment at this time as we are reviewing NCR’s lawsuit,” Dish spokesman Marc Lumpkin said in an e-mail.
