Banijay prevails in €1 million court case with Endemol

Endemol will have to repay Banijay €1 million after a Paris court overturned an earlier decision in a dispute over reality formats Dilemme and Loft Story.

Dilemme

The Paris Court of Appeal ruled that Banijay’s Dilemme format is not a copycat of Endemol’s Loft Story and Secret Story shows overturning an earlier decision from the Paris Commercial Court.

The earlier decision had required Banijay to pay Endemol €1 million and that sum must now be returned plus €100,000 legal costs.

An injunction on exploiting the format has also been lifted and Banijay’s distribution arm has added it to its catalogue for MIPCOM.

The court also said that Alexia Laroche-Joubert, the head of ALJ Productions, was not in breach of obligations to her former employer, Endemol.

Reality format Dilemme aired on M6’s DTT channel W9 in France, starting in 2009 whereas Loft Story started airing in France in 2001.In Dilemme, contestants are isolated from the outside world and faced with moral dilemmas.