Franchise Pictures has won a second dismissal in its acrimonious court battle with Germany's Intertainment Licensing GmbH. On Friday, Judge Carlos Moreno of the US District Court issued an order granting Franchise motion to dismiss Intertainment's claims against it under the Federal Racketeering Influenced And Corrupt Organizations Act (known as RICO). The court found that Intertainment did not satisfy legal requirements for alleging RICO claims against Franchise or its officers Elie Samaha and Andrew Stevens.

In Intertainment's suit against Franchise filed in Jan this year, the German company had claimed that Samaha and Stevens were in violation of RICO through a "pattern of racketeering activity." Intertainment claims that Franchise fraudulently inflated the budgets of a slate of pictures to which Intertainment was bound to provide as much as 47%.

In March, the court granted Franchise's request for a protective order regarding confidentiality enabling the producer/distributor to keep sensitive information out of the public eye.