Opinion ID: 6986474
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mary Kling’s 1994 Visit to Blockbuster

Text: Woody Kling died in 1988. On August 30, 1994, Mary Kling, Woody’s widow and successor to all the assets of HKP, visited a Blockbuster Video store in Los Angeles with her son. She discovered that the store was renting video cassettes of television shows featuring Rainbow Brite characters, including the shows that utilized the scripts that her husband had written. Hallmark had released the first three Rainbow Brite specials on two video cassettes in 1985. Reviewing the store’s video catalog, Mary Kling further discovered that United Feature had released the first three Robotman specials on two video cassettes in 1985 also. Until her Blockbuster visit in 1994, Mary Kling did not know about the release of these videos. Neither she nor her husband had authorized the making or distribution of video copies of the television shows. In September 1994 Mary Kling sent letters to DIC asking for executed copies of the Rainbow Brite and Robotman contracts. DIC responded that it was unable to locate the contracts. During the following year Mary Kling made a number of phone calls to DIC concerning the release of the video cassettes, but her calls were never returned. In October 1995 Mary Kling sent DIC a letter concerning the distribution of the video cassettes and requesting an opportunity to negotiate a settlement of the matter. DIC responded by stating that her claims were baseless.