Telecinco stops broadcasting 'Pasapalabra' after the Supreme Court ruling in favor of ITV

The high court has dismissed the appeal filed by Mediaset España against the ruling of the Provincial Court of Madrid on the contract signed with ITV, in relation to the broadcasting rights of the program Pasapalabra.

After several years of litigation, finally the Supreme Court has agreed with the British producer and broadcaster ITV in his litigation against Mediaset Spain. The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal filed by Mediaset against the ruling of the Provincial Court of Madrid on the contract signed with ITV, in relation to the program broadcast rights Pasapalabra.

The Provincial Court of Madrid agreed to condemn Telecinco to immediately cease broadcasting the format as well as to "resume in the future, the broadcast, editing, production, reproduction, public communication, distribution, transformation and any and all other forms of exploitation, by itself or through third parties, of the program." Pasapalabra, as well as any other television program that has an identical or similar format to the program Pasapalabra or that has the name Pasapalabra“.

Now, after the ruling by the Supreme Court became final, Telecinco broadcast this Tuesday, after almost two decades on the air, the latest edition of the popular contest presented by Christian Galvez.

“After receiving this afternoon the Supreme Court ruling on Pasapalabra, Mediaset España communicates its respect for said decision and its intention to comply with it immediately. Therefore, and unless an agreement is previously reached with ITV, today will be the last day of broadcast of the program Pasapalabra“The group said in a statement.

The background of the litigation dates back to 2009 when Mediaset España stopped paying the antenna rights to ITV for the original format. The Alphabet Game (which Antena 3 had previously broadcast) claiming that key elements in the Spanish version, such as The Roscor, they did not constitute the format.

Telecinco maintained in the lawsuit that the Dutch company MC&F is the “legitimate owner” of The Rosco y como tal le paga por el uso del formato, si bien MC&F estaba a su vez en litigio con ITV por esa titularidad.

Mediaset sued ITV, asking for the nullity of agreements and return of amounts already paid. For its part, ITV claimed 14.9 million euros for non-payments and demanded the broadcast of the program cease. The Commercial Court 6 of Madrid sentenced Mediaset to cancel the broadcast of the contest and pay the amount claimed.

Sentence that was later ratified by the Provincial Court of Madrid although it reduced the amount to be paid to 7 million. Both Mediaset and ITV, not satisfied with the sentence, went to the Supreme Court.

The appeal was admitted exclusively in relation to one of the issues raised by Mediaset, which questioned the possibility that ITV could claim that Telecinco be compensated in the amount of the profits obtained as a result of the use of the format and the name. Pasapalabra (including merchandising sales) since August 1, 2012, since ITV only operates its format through license, and had decided not to opt, even in a subsidiary manner, for the hypothetical royalty criterion, according to the Supreme Court.

The high court, applying the Directive that regulates respect for intellectual property rights and the consolidated text of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law (TRLPI), concludes that the use of the compensatory criterion of the benefits obtained by the infringer is appropriate even if the owner of the infringed rights does not directly exploit the television format that is the object of the infringement. Thus, it considers that the compensation modality provided for in article 140.2 of the TRLPI is not strictly a compensatory modality, since it does not respond to the financial loss suffered by the owner of the violated exclusive right, but instead seeks to prevent the financial benefit achieved with the infringement from remaining in the offender's assets.