Blockbuster is seeking to recover up to $250,000 from video renta...

Edward Stead said rental chain would move to recover some court costs from 49er Video, Sacramento; Lone Star Video, San Antonio; The Big Picture Video, Rome, N.Y. Fees are charged for each motion and submission filed with court and federal rules allow defendants to attempt to recover those costs from plaintiffs. Blockbuster and Hollywood studios spent several million dollars on their defense, Stead said. Chances of recovering costs may be slim. Lone Star Video and 49er Video have closed some or all of their stores since 1997, while Big Picture is operating under bankruptcy protection. Whether Blockbuster is successful in recovering costs could have impact on similar case filed by 200 independent video rental dealers in Cal. Superior Court. Trial date for Cal. case hasn’t been set. Meanwhile, some dealers are questioning VSDA Pres. Thomas Warren’s N.C.-based Video Hut chain’s revenue-sharing agreement with Universal Studios. Video Hut signed agreement with Universal in Jan. 2000, capping 5 months of negotiations, and did so in order to compete with Blockbuster in terms of VHS copy depth, trade reports quoted Warren as saying. Warren’s comments followed heated discussion on VSDA message board that questioned whether Video Hut received revenue-sharing agreement because of Warren’s position in VSDA, reports said. Warren said idea that he would use VSDA position to win gain for his chain is “abhorrent” to him.