“Novy Kanal” is going to sue the TV channel “1+1”.
The reason for filing the lawsuit is the violation of copyright on the popular and highly-rated TV show “Auditor”. The well-known TV program began its existence in 2011. The TV presenter of the program Olga Freymuth gained immense popularity, thanks to her scandalous investigations in public institutions of various cities of Ukraine and neighboring countries. Thanks to “Auditor”, viewers got a broad idea of the quality of staff service, food preparation, compliance with generally accepted and legal norms of hotel and restaurant business of all kinds of relevant institutions.
Since 2014, Olga Freymuth left “Novy Kanal” and moved to “1+1”, becoming the host of a similar TV show called “Inspector Freymuth”. Despite the departure of the TV presenter, “Novy Kanal” continues to release new episodes of the program “Auditor”.
It will be difficult for “Novy Kanal” to prove the violation of copyright, if such violations really took place. Producer of the OTV channel Vladimir Orlov notes that the nuances in Ukrainian legislation will play a major role in this dispute. It does not yet allow us to make decisions in such proceedings. “We can register rights to a trademark, to a script. But the format itself is not protected,” he confirmed. By the way, it is also difficult to protect the script. “Make a few edits to it – and it will be a different script,” he pointed out. The producer recalls that there are often disagreements between Ukrainian channels regarding the use of ideas, but they are usually resolved amicably. It is pointless to argue.