Seven has lost the court battle to stop Nine airing The Hotplate but that’s just the beginning of this story.
The Hotplate season will be allowed to play out in full ,but Federal Court Justice John Nicholas says he was satisfied Seven has a “reasonable case” that its rival has infringed its copyright.
I’m satisfied that Seven has a reasonable case for showing there has been an infringement of its copyright by Nine.”
If Seven wishes to pursue the action against its rival on this front, he said a trial should be done before The Hotplate’s second season is aired he said
“We are pleased with the court’s decision today regarding The Hotplate and look forward to continuing this series on Nine,” the network has said.
Seven has released the following statement,
We will continue seek to protect our business and the content we create.
His Honour today found that Seven has an arguable case that the close similarity of the formats is the result of copying and that there is a reasonable basis for Seven to argue that, directly or indirectly, the team responsible for developing the Hotplate format has copied the format, or a large part of the format, used in MKR.
Seven will continue its case against the Nine program which it asserts is a straight rip-off of My Kitchen Rules.
The defendants, when the matters proceed to full hearing, includes the Endemol Group, the distributor of MKR program, as well as Nine. Seven needs to protect not only the Australian version of My Kitchen Rules but also the distribution rights in many overseas territories. Given the importance of the matter, Seven has asked the court to deal with the matter as an urgent hearing.
My Kitchen Rules is the number one show in Australia. It is also broadcast in in 162 countries. There are local versions of MKR being produced under licence in seven international markets very successfully, including Canada, Lithuania, UK, Serbia, New Zealand, Belgium and Denmark.
Seven will also continue to create new and original programmes. That commitment has underpinned our continuing leadership in television and a success that others seek to copy
Source SBS
