"Transformers 4" studios to pay damages for contract breach
28 Oct - Although the Chongqing Wulong Scenic Area's appeal was rejected, it will still get some part of the RMB6 million it paid to both Paramount Pictures and Chinese studio 1905 for their failure to honour their agreement.
As reported on ECNS News, the case, which was filed by the aforementioned entity in 2014, stated that the two studios failed to feature Wulong Scenic Area's logo when they used the location to film the Hollywood blockbuster, "Transformers: Age of Extinction", despite being paid for the product placement.
They argued that a recent survey revealed that about 86.9 percent of 551 people from Beijing, Shanghai and South China's Guangdong Province who had seen the film didn't know which area in China the scenes had been shot, and that it had caused the plaintiff a huge amount of loss.
The plaintiff demanded for the two companies to return the RMB6 million it had paid.
Soon after, the two studios filed a counterclaim, requesting the Chongqing Wulong Scenic Area to hand over the final payment of RMB1.2 million and another 11 million in late fees, adding that the only reason they were not able to complete the request was due to the late payment.
However, on 27 October, the Chongqing No.3 Intermediate People's Court rejected the counterclaim, as well as the plaintiff's appeal, although ordered Paramount and 1905 to pay RMB1.8 million to the plaintiff for the losses and another RMB209,000 as compensation for copyright fees.
