State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Missouri > T26 > C407 > 407_357Blind bidding permitted, when--invitation to bid, contents--licenseagreement voidable, damages.
407.357. Notwithstanding any other provisions of sections407.350 to 407.357, a distributor of motion pictures may blindbid motion pictures based upon a play or review which has beenperformed for a period of not less than six months for thepublic, or based upon published manuscripts which are in the topten best sellers in sales or manuscripts having sold at leastfive hundred thousand copies to the general public from the timeof copyright, or based upon television or radio scripts whichhave been previously televised or broadcast on a national networkto the public. Provided, however, if a distributor solicits bidsfrom exhibitors for the purposes of entering into a licenseagreement and engages in blind bidding for such solicitation, theinvitation to bid shall be in writing and shall specify, inaddition to any other information the distributor desires toconvey to an exhibitor, the audience to which the motion pictureis principally directed and the rating anticipated for the motionpicture which shall be specified by using the rating system ofthe Classification and Rating Administration. Blind bidding asprovided for in section 407.353 and this section may only takeplace during the one-hundred-eighty-day period immediatelypreceding the designated release date of the motion picture whichis the subject of the license agreement and no exhibitor shallforward any money to a distributor earlier than fourteen daysimmediately preceding the designated release date of the motionpicture which is the subject of the license agreement. A licenseagreement is voidable by the exhibitor if the released motionpicture does not substantially conform to the informationprovided by the distributor about the motion picture in theinvitation to bid, or if the rating given by the Classificationand Rating Administration is more restrictive than the ratingindicated by the distributor in the invitation to bid, and allmoney received by the distributor from the exhibitor before therelease of the motion picture under the terms of the licenseagreement, shall be returned to the exhibitor within seven days.All license agreements entered into as a result of blind biddingshall contain a provision stating the amount of damages payableto the exhibitor by the distributor in the event the licenseagreement is voided under the terms of this section.
(L. 1982 S.B. 525 § 4)
