Viva Metal Box is no more

[Pieter V]

Thanks to Andy for first reporting this news in the Best Buy thread.

An excerpt from the summary decision issued Nov 26 2012:

The Court permanently RESTRAINS AND ENJOINS Defendants Viva Magnetics Ltd. (Hong Kong), Viva USA, Inc., Viva Media Packaging (Canada) Ltd., Viva Metal Packaging Ltd. and Viva Media Packaging Ltd. (collectively, “Viva defendants”), their duly authorized agents, servants, employees, and all others in active concert or participation with the Viva defendants from (a) infringing the following United States patents of plaintiff Glud & Marstrand A/S (“G&M”): 7,051,872; 7,232,032; 7,350,642; and D562,049, and (b) making, using, offering to sell, selling and/or importing (i) the Viva Metal Box for Blu-Ray and DVD products accused of infringement in this action, and/or (ii) the Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) case accused of infringement in the 2005 action between G&M and some of the Viva defendant

Here is the original suit filed by G&M (steelbook) in District Court in Washington state:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/85682389/Glud-Marstrand-A-S-v-Viva-Magnetics-Ltd-Hong-Kong-et-al

 

[dhillon7]

thats a shame, the disney ones were awsome

 

[blurayfanatic101]

its a shame

 

[Vicig]

Oh crap.
This will affect Wreck-It Ralph, right?

 

[felix_champs]

Do any of you guys have info from Disney ??

Is this the end of metal packaging for Disney ?

 

[digitalbabe]

Felix, 'Viva Metal Box' is no more. We have to wait and see if they resume 'Steelbook' releases, as they still have in places like Germany (i.e Finding Nemo and previously released Toy Story, Toy Story 2, etc)....

 

[tavorul]

Oh, this are real bad news indeed!

 

[Mac136187]

Sad sad news. I loved the viva box

 

[Protec]

I can not believe it - 2013 has no good news so far

what about Face / Off (Blu-ray Viva Metal Box) [China] === `?

there will be a Steelbook give Blufans Exclusive Face / Off

There were some pictures of Face / Off and The Rock Blu-ray Viva Metal Box

has anyone else?

 

[RayBluRay]

No more disney. Thanks steelbook

Unless steelbooks starts releasing them in the USA. Not the large SB. That just looks cheap.

 

[jcm]

Another thing great about VMBs no re-releases.

Vivas were structurally stronger than steelbooks. They always had great artwork inside and out.

Even though their run is over "viva the viva"

 

[SlimJim24]

I see what you did there

Yeh. Vivas are the ****

 

[Jayturner514]

This is truly a shame...always looked forward to these popping up here and there...

 

[Alienkidmj12]

They are really good quality cases. I miss them too ...

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SonicBoom]

i really loved my Viva Cases. It's a real shame they cannot be produced anymore.

 

[djobitwan7]

I loved steelbooks and the Vivas as equals. I like the look of steelbooks (better spine), however, the Viva's held more than 3 discs, which was very nice when the Disney movies in general gave you the 3-D, regular Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy & possibly bonus disc. If Steelbook started putting in more than 3-discs inside, then would it have been tops without question.

Luckily though......I did get all the Disney releases and happy to have them, but bummed to a point, because I like things uniform. So having to start with steelbooks, then iron packs, then Viva's has made my collection weird looking. Hopefully, they switch back to steelbook and improve on the inside. That and hope Disney joins with UltraViolet. I know that is another separate discussion, but almost all movies now give you 2 options to either use UV or Digital Copy.

 

[dirtyoak]

I loved steelbooks and the Vivas as equals. I like the look of steelbooks (better spine), however, the Viva's held more than 3 discs, which was very nice when the Disney movies in general gave you the 3-D, regular Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy & possibly bonus disc. If Steelbook started putting in more than 3-discs inside, then would it have been tops without question.

Luckily though......I did get all the Disney releases and happy to have them, but bummed to a point, because I like things uniform. So having to start with steelbooks, then iron packs, then Viva's has made my collection weird looking. Hopefully, they switch back to steelbook and improve on the inside. That and hope Disney joins with UltraViolet. I know that is another separate discussion, but almost all movies now give you 2 options to either use UV or Digital Copy.

Steelbooks can have 4 disc in them. They have been able to do so for almost a year now.

 

[mnbx888]

 

[dirtyoak]

You got any info on that? I've never seen or heard of it before.

 

[Sigill]

I can't see the image?

 

[KarelSeldenthuis]

So sad.. understand the case though.. but i truly liked the viva cases..