Mediaset ordered to pay €45 million for broadcasting 'Pasapalabra' without having the rights

BarcelonaThe serial for the rights to the program Pasapalabra adds a new chapter. The media group Mediaset must pay 45 million euros to the ITV Studios group, owner of the intellectual property rights to the contest, for the profits obtained during the broadcast of the program between 2010 and 2019. This is what the commercial court number 6 of Madrid has decided, which considers that Mediaset must restore the group formed without having the rights.

The conflict between Mediaset and ITV began in 2009, when the Telecinco group decided to unilaterally terminate the contract with the British production company, owner of the rights to the format, created in 1996 on the British BBC under the name The alphabet game. Mediaset considered that the British producer was not the owner of the title of the program (Pasapalabra It is the direct adaptation of Passparola, a name registered by RTI, an Italian subsidiary of Mediaset, which brought the format to Italy in 1999) nor of the most iconic test of the contest, the donut final, registered in the name of the Dutch company MC&F. Now the Madrid court has ruled in favor of ITV and considers that with the broadcast of the program, including the proof of the donut, Telecinco infringed the British production company's intellectual property rights.

The court has set a quantification of Mediaset's award at €44,334,194 for the illicit profit derived from the program's direct, conventional, and non-conventional advertising revenue. For other profits derived from merchandising revenue (promotion and presentation of products related to the program), the amount is set at €119,216, and for late payment interest, another €550,425. Mediaset has the option of filing an appeal, and according to sources close to the group cited by Efe, the group's intention is to do so soon, once it receives the explanatory orders it has requested.

In Spain Pasapalabra It has had several television stints. It arrived via Antena 3, which broadcast the game show from 2000 to 2007, when it moved to Telecinco. It remained on Mediaset's first network until October 2019, when a Supreme Court ruling ruled in favor of ITV and forced the channel to cancel the game show. A few months later Antena 3 announced that it had reached an agreement with the British production company and they had stuck with the format. Currently, Pasapalabra It continues to be broadcast on Atresmedia's first channel, with Roberto Leal as presenter.