Tagged With: Years

The Walt Disney Company can rest easy for another twenty years as the Supreme Court has upheld a 1998 Congressional Act extending existing copyrights. On Wednesday, January 15, 2003, the justices voted 7-2 to uphold the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), a 1998 law that extended millions of existing copyrights by an additional 20 years.

Founders Appoint Trustee. Cinar Corporation has reached an agreement in principle to settle the claims against it and certain other defendants in class actions brought in Canada and the United States. The plaintiffs have agreed to receive an aggregate US$25 million in full settlement of the claims against Cinar and such other defendants. The allocation of the settlement amount among the parties was not disclosed and the settlement is subject to approval by the courts in the United States and Quebec. In other Cinar news, company founders Micheline Charest and Ronald A.

As part of Cinars restructuring program and in an effort to regain shareholder confidence, the company has appointed Louis Fournier as head of distribution. Cinar had previously employed Fournier for a period of eight years as vice president, sales & co-productions before he joined TVA-International in March 2000 as president of the youth and animation unit. Fournier will assume his new position on January 14, 2002. Fournier brings with him over eighteen years of expertise in the field of children's entertainment in the television and movie industry.

According to organizer Reed Midem, MIPCOM concluded its 2001 run with a grand total of 1244 exhibiting companies, up nearly 5% from the previous year. Although attendance was down almost 15% from last year, the optimistic attitude of the participants, despite the troubling world events, made this years MIPCOM a success. As MIPCOMs Personality of the Year, MTV CEO Tom Freston stated, TV will bounce back. MIPCOM Junior saw encouraging signs for the international childrens programming business.