A California State Court has rejected a request by German independent distributor Scotia Film for an injunction to stop the AFMA arbitration proceedings Miramax Films filed against Scotia in April. The ruling was made last Thursday.

Scotia, run by Sam Waynberg, sued Miramax in June claiming that it breached its license agreement by overpricing films and failing to deliver promised titles such as Shakespeare In Love (Universal had all international territories on that film).

Miramax had taken Scotia to an AFMA (American Film Marketing Association) arbitration board, claiming that Scotia had failed to pay millions of dollars in license fees and royalties. Films named included Holy Smoke, Rounders and My Life So Far.

"We are pleased that the Court denied Scotia's effort to block the arbitration which is the proceedure that the parties agreed upon when entering into the contracts," said a Miramax statement. "We are looking forward to presenting the case to the arbitrator and to receiving a prompt decision on the merits."s