Blockbuster allowed to proceed with antitrust countersuit

San-Francisco-based District Judge William Alsup has allowed video rental company Blockbuster to proceed with its antitrust counter-claim against online competitor Netflix, which has sued Blockbuster for alleged patent infringement.

Netflix claims that Blockbuster’s online service infringes two of its patents protecting how subscribers create a list of movies they want to see, but in response Blockbuster filed its antitrust action claiming that Netflix’s patents were obtained through deceptive practices in an attempt to monopolise online rentals.

Netflix therefore asked the court to dismiss the counter-suit, split the two lawsuits into separate proceedings and postpone discovery on the antitrust action until its patent claims are resolved.

Alsup rejected all three motions, stating that Netflix had not shown that it would be harmed by allowing both sets of claims to proceed together. However, he also confirmed that Netflix could try to dismiss the antitrust suit at a later point in the proceedings.