Judge Finds that Love Bites is Flirting with Licensing Disaster

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JUDGEFINDSTHATLOVEBITESISFLIRTINGWITHLICENSINGDISASTER

LaurentCarrièreandAgataKotras*
LEGERROBICRICHARD
,L.L.P.
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Montreal,Quebec,CanadaH2Z2B7
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PRECIS:AQuebeccourthasgrantedaninteriminjunctionagainstaUS
defendantorderingittostopbroadcastingthetelevisionseriesLoveBites.The
courtfoundthatthedefendanthadfailedtorespectalicenceagreementby
associatingtheserieswithcommercialproductsand,inaddition,hadwrongly
adaptedtheconceptfromtheoriginalseries.
InDistributionsAvanticinévidéoinc.c.JWTwoEntertainment,adivisionofJ.
WalterThompsonUSAInc.,2006QCCS5077(QueSupCt;2006-09-27)Justice
CasgrainoftheQuebecSuperiorCourthasgrantedaninterlocutoryinjunction
holdingthatLoveBites,asupposedUSadaptationofthehitQuebectelevision
seriesUnGars,uneFille,wasusingitasameansofpromotingcommercial
products,thusfailingtopreservetheessenceoftheshow’soriginalconcept.
LesDistributionsAvantiCinéVidéoIncandLesProductionsAvantiCinéVidéo
Inc,whichholdallIPrightsintheTVseriesUnGars,uneFille,signedalicence
agreementwithJWTWOEntertainment(adivisionofJWalterThompsonUSA
Inc)tocreateanUSversionoftheseries.Whiletheoriginalconceptwasa30-
minuteshow,theepisodesoftheUSseriesweresnapshots,approximatelytwo-
and-a-half-minuteslong,separatelybroadcastedandinsertedinbetween
commercialbreaksforhairproducts.BeforetheQuebecSuperiorCourtAvanti
soughttoobtainaprovisionalinterlocutoryinjunctiontoceaseall
broadcastingoftheUSadaptation,whichhadbeenbroadcastfortwoweeks
beforetheproceedings.
AccordingtoAvanti,theUSversioncontravenedaclauseofthelicence
agreementstipulatingthatthelicenseemustpreserve“theessenceofthe



















































©CIPS,2006.*Lawyerandtrade-markagent,LaurentCarrière,isaseniorpartnerwithLEGERROBICRICHARD,
L.L.P.,amultidisciplinaryfirmoflawyers,andpatentandtrademarkagents.AgataKotrasisan
articlingstudentwiththefirm..PublishedinWorldCopyrightLawReport.Publication328.026.

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formatandthetelevisionseries”.AvantiallegedthatJWTWOdidnotrespect
thisclausebecausetheoriginalconceptoftheserieshasnothingincommon
withtheUSadaptationasbroadcast.
JWTWOpleadedthatAvantihad,asleastverballyorimplicitlybyitssilence,
agreedtothewaythattheoriginalserieshadbeenadapted.
Inhisanalysis,thejudgeconsideredthemattertobeoneofurgencybecause
eachtimethepublicwatchesaTVseries,itcreatesacertainimageofthe
seriesthatcanbedifficult,ifnotimpossible,toalterafterwards.Itcouldcause
seriousdamagetoAvantiifinfacttheoriginalconceptwasdenaturedand
spoiled.Despitecontractualobligations,Avantiwasneverconsultedastothe
developmentoftheUSprojectnordidthefinalproductreceiveapprovalfrom
it.Moreover,noroyaltieshadbeenpaidtotheownersofthecopyrights.
Further,JWTWOhadusedtheseriesforpromotionalpurposes,morespecifically
forpromotingSunsilkhairproducts.ItappearedfromJWTWO’smarketingplan,
whichwasintroducedasproofduringtheproceedings,thattheTVserieswas
merelyofsecondaryimportanceasopposedtotheproject’spromotional
aspect.Consequently,thejudgewasoftheopinionthatitwassufficientto
considerthattheclauseofthelicenceagreementwasbreachedbyJWTWO.
Thejudgedidnotconsideritnecessarytolookatthebalanceof
inconvenienceastheAvantiplaintiffshadaclear-cutcase.
Consequently,thejudgeconcludedthat,allfactsconsidered,Avantiwas
entitledtoobtainaninterlocutoryinjunctioninordertoavoiddamagesthat
couldbecausedtoit

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