A lawsuit regarding the rights to the Golden Globes may go to trial this fall after a Judge refused to throw it out in a tentative ruling. The show’s producer, Dick Clark Productions, sought to dismiss the breach of contract suit that was brought by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the award show’s coordinator. The Hollywood Foreign Press’ complaint claimed that the producer sold broadcast rights for the show to NBC through the year 2018 without the requisite permission.
The U.S. District Court Judge in Los Angeles will now decide the rightful owner of the broadcast rights in a trial scheduled to begin in early September.
At issue are several contracts that were entered into throughout the years between the parties. Specifically, the Hollywood Foreign Press claimed that the Dick Clark Productions, and its new owner, Red Zone Capital Partners, only owned rights to produce the show through 2011, and that broadcast rights were recently sold to NBC for less than they are worth.
The Hollywood Foreign Press had originally asked for a summer court date to allow it the opportunity to go into a new television broadcast deal and possibly find a new producer if it won the case. There are also claims of copyright infringement and seeking an accounting of profits that will be decided at a later date.
“We will continue the fight to reclaim all of our rights,” the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press said in a statement.
The Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press and its 93 members for achievement in film and television both in the United States and abroad. This year marked the 68th year for the Awards, which are typically held in January.
Resource: Yahoo News, “Case over Golden Globes rights headed to trial,” Anthony McCartney, 3/7/2011.
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