French Court rejects Endemol's appeal against Banijay

French Court rejects Endemol's appeal against Banijay

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 27-11-2013
The French Court of Cassation has rejected Endemol's appeal against a judgement made in favour of rival Banijay, which it had previously accused of unfair competition regarding a reality tv format.
The Court ruled that Banijay had committed no prejudicial act in developing and producing the reality format Dilemme for W9 in 2010, although Endemol argued it picked up elements from its show from TF1 Secret Story, a spin-off of Loft Story.
In March 2011, Endemol was initially granted €1 million in damages, but the judgement was overturned and Endemol was forced to pay the money back along with an additional €100,000 in legal costs.
Banijay International then started to reintroduce the Dilemme format, produced through its subsidiary ALJ Productions, to its catalogue.