In a suit filed today, Rentrak Corp. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Inc. have sued Hollywood Entertainment, which owns the Hollywood Video chain, alleging that the video renter has under-reported sales figures. Web-based movie store Reel.Com was also named in the suit.
However, in a filing late Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Hollywood Entertainment alleged that Rentrak – and not Hollywood Entertainment – has under-reported Hollywood Entertainment’s sales and rentals.

Under an agreement, Fox leases video cassettes to Rentrak, which then leases the videos under pay-per-transaction arrangements to retailers like Hollywood Entertainment.

“Documents disclosed in discovery show that Rentrak significantly misinformed Fox about Hollywood Entertainment’s performance and our agreements with Rentrak,” claimed Patrick O’Malley, a lawyer for Hollywood Entertainment.

“These recently disclosed documents suggest that Rentrak under-reported to Fox sales and rentals by Hollywood, and underpaid Foxbased on that data. Rentrak then tried to blame Hollywood for Rentrak’s own conduct.”

No comments from Rentrak of Fox are available but we’ll keep you posted as more information comes in.