NEW YORK - The New York Times recently reported on legal battle that is heating up regarding facial capture technology that's been used on films such as Deadpool and Avengers: Age of Ultron. According to the Times, the spat is over who owns a novel method of electronically capturing the performances of human actors, including every smile and twitch of their facial muscles, and using the data to bring computer-generated characters to life on the screen.
As per The New York Times:
The technology, called Mova, won a technical Academy Award for a group of developers last year, and this month, Rearden, the technology incubator in San Francisco that developed Mova, countersued a Chinese company that has claimed ownership of the technology. Rearden, founded by the Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Steve Perlman, is claiming a string of patent and copyright violations.
It has asked a judge to award it financial damages and block the distribution of movies and other entertainment that it claims have been made by infringing on Mova patents and trademarks. Travis W. Thomas, an intellectual-property lawyer at Baker Botts, said it was conceivable that a court could eventually block the distribution of the movies, but added that it was a long shot for Rearden.
A suit claiming that Steve Perlman, above in 2011, owns the Mova animation technology seeks to block films that have used it. Rearden's suit follows one from the Chinese company that has claimed ownership of Mova, Shenzhenshi Haitiecheng Science and Technology Company. Shenzhenshi, which is affiliated with the well-known Hollywood visual effects company Digital Domain, sued Rearden last February as both parties began to tangle over who owned the technology.
It is now commonplace for movie and game makers to animate characters through motion capture, which typically involves placing markers all over the bodies of actors so cameras and software can record their movements. Nearly a decade ago, Mr. Perlman introduced Mova, which was designed to more faithfully capture the subtleties of facial expressions.
Mova did this by dusting the faces of actors with phosphorescent makeup and using customized hardware and software to capture the performances and convert them into data. Mova was used to help Brad Pitt's character in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button appear to age in reverse, and was a part of the effects in Gravity, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and many others.
The strange story of how Mova's ownership came to be contested resembles the twists and turns of a movie plot.
Mr. Perlman founded and controlled the online game start-up OnLive, which he merged with Mova. But as the start-up struggled, he left in 2012. According to the countersuit against Shenzhenshi that Rearden filed this month, OnLive decided to sell Mova's assets later that year, and Mr. Perlman decided to acquire them from OnLive's controlling investor.
He tasked a Rearden employee who worked on Mova motion capture projects, Greg LaSalle, with managing the process. But Mr. LaSalle negotiated to sell Mova's assets improperly to Digital Domain, Mr. Perlman said in the suit, which was filed in United States District Court in San Francisco.
Shenzhenshi said in its lawsuit last year that it, in fact, acquired Mova in May 2013 and that it bought the technology legitimately from Mr. LaSalle for an undisclosed amount. The Chinese company said Mr. Perlman had previously been unable to make a successful business out of Mova and that he encouraged Mr. LaSalle to try to salvage it on his own.
Mr. Perlman's later desire to regain control of Mova stemmed from a severe bout of seller's remorse' after widespread publicity about the Academy Award related to the technology, Shenzhenshi said in its suit. Shenzhenshi is closely related to Digital Domain and its Hong Kong-based parent company, Digital Domain Holdings, Rearden said in its countersuit.
Lawyers for Shenzhenshi did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Mr. LaSalle now works for Digital Domain, where he is listed as director of visual development. A spokesman for Digital Domain did not respond to requests for comment, and Mr. LaSalle could not be reached. In recent interviews about Deadpool, one of the year's biggest hits, Mr. LaSalle has said he personally performed the facial expressions that animated the metallic superhero Colossus in the movie.
Mr. Perlman - who sold the set-top box start-up WebTV to Microsoft in the 1990s for more than $500 million and now runs a wireless start-up - declined to comment about the litigation. A news release that Rearden planned to release on Wednesday about its countersuit identified movies with billions of dollars in collective box-office receipts that it said did not have a legitimate license to use Mova's technology, including Deadpool, Terminator Genisys and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Alex V. Chachkes, an intellectual-property lawyer at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, said he saw little chance that Rearden could prevent big movies that were created using Mova from being distributed, in part because courts tend to shy away from blocking the release of movies out of concerns about the First Amendment. It is more likely that Rearden could disrupt movie projects that Digital Domain is working on if a court ultimately sides with it, he said.
There's roughly zero chance they could do anything to slow down the Deadpool' juggernaut, Mr. Chachkes said.
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...
NEW YORK - The New York Times recently reported on legal battle that is heating up regarding facial capture technology that's been used on films such as Deadpool and Avengers: Age of Ultron. According to the Times, the spat is over who owns a novel method of electronically capturing the performances of human actors, including every smile and twitch of their facial muscles, and using the data to bring computer-generated characters to life on the screen. 
