The High Court has granted summary judgment to the BBC and Celador in their defence of a claim by Mr Meakin that the broadcaster and production company infringed his copyright by copying his ideas for a game show. Mr Meakin claimed that the BBC's lottery programme 'Come And Have A Go If You Think You Are Smart Enough' was a copy of his idea for a show called 'Cash Call Challenge Live'. However, the Court said his claims did not stack up as the areas of similarity were very small and at too high a level, and in any event had been used before so were not unique to Mr Meakin's idea. The similarities boiled down to viewers at home being able to participate in a live quiz including through telephone. The premise that his idea had been seen by anyone involved with the production of the programme was unrealistic. Summary judgment was granted without a full trial because the Court considered that Mr Meakin had no real prospect of success based on the facts of this case.
Any case that involves a discussion of format rights is particularly interesting. The legal cases that have reached the courts have been few and far between, despite there being millions of pounds involved in exploiting and exporting formats for television shows and there being plenty of allegations of copying. The leading UK case from 20 years ago suggests that format rights may not be protectable as a form of intellectual property right, but many people sign up to lucrative licence fee deals to be able to use programme formats.
This latest case suggests that there may be some legal basis for that business practice. Copyright protects the expression of an idea (such as the text) rather than the underlying idea itself. However, the judge in this case suggested that if the ideas and concepts had been copied, then the case may have been decided differently. The judge said that he accepted that it was not necessary for the actual text to be copied in order for a claim for copyright infringement to be made out. He took this position from the fact that there were cases in which copyright in a novel or play could be infringed by copying the plot even if the language used was different.
It will be interesting to see what a UK court decides if and when a format rights case is decided on in a full court trial.
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