Legal News

Totally Fierce! In Round 1 of Project Runway Spat, NBC Takes Weinsteins

By Dan Slater

The first battle in a war over the crucial question of which network with air the fifth season of Project Runway has been settled. NBC, with the help of Gibson Dunn’s Orin Snyder (pictured), has secured a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts a deal the Weinstein Co. had struck with Lifetime Networks for the rights to run the reality show.

NBC Universal, which has aired the show on its Bravo cable network, alleged — in a suit filed in April in New York State Supreme Court — that it had a right of first refusal on the show, which was scheduled to launch its fifth cycle on Bravo this summer. (Here’s LB background.) The Weinsteins have claimed that their Weinstein company never granted NBC the right of first refusal, and that NBC had already turned down the same deal struck with Lifetime, a JV of Disney and Hearst.

On Friday, Richard B. Lowe III granted NBC the injunction, ruling that the Weinstein Company closed a deal with Lifetime without granting NBC a last opportunity to match the terms of the deal. Here’s the ruling, and here’s a report from the NYT.

In a statement, the Weinstein Company, which is repped by David Boies, said it would appeal. “We are glad that the court held that NBC Universal cannot exhibit the program on Bravo and that the court required NBC Universal to post a minimum $20 million bond,” the statement read. “Obviously we will be appealing and remain committed to our partners.”

All parties in the case, reports the Times, are expected to meet with Judge Lowe again on Oct. 15 to set a trial schedule.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).