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The television production company behind the first four seasons of The Voice of China, a popular adaptation of the Dutch reality talent show The Voice, has been ordered by a Beijing court to use a different name for its singing competition.
The ruling follows a bitter legal dispute between Star China Media and its former partner Talpa Media, the Dutch production company that owns the format of the show.
Shanghai-based Star China Media was the leading producer of the first four seasons of The Voice of China, which has been a huge success on the mainland.
But its collaboration with Talpa Media ended in January when the legal agreement between them expired. Talpa subsequently signed a contract with another Chinese production company, Zhejiang Tangde, to produce seasons five to eight.
Undeterred, Star China Media started auditions in November for a show that it had planned to call 2016 The Voice of China, which is due to air in July.
But the Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled on Monday that, based on Zhejiang Tangde’s application, Star China Media must “immediately cease using the name The Voice of China in all publicity, promotions, auditions and advertisements for its singing competition talent show”, the People’s Court Daily reported.
The court ruled there was a possibility Star China would infringe a registered trademark and that the high similarity between the names 2016 The Voice of China and The Voice of China was likely “to cause confusion and misunderstanding among the public”, amounting to unfair competition.
It said once 2016 The Voice of China was broadcast, it would be “disseminated and spread on a relatively large scale,” which may “constitute an infringement to Tangde’s exclusive licence, make it more expensive and more difficult for Tangde to safeguard its legal rights or even make it hard for the company to exert its rights in the authorised period”.
In January, Star China Media claimed Talpa had terminated their contract unilaterally after demanding the company pay a “sky-high fee ... hundreds of times more” than its initial licensing fee of more than 2 million yuan (HK$2.36 million) four years ago.
Talpa denied the accusation, and accused Star China of preparing a fifth season without a legal contract. It also sought an injunction in Hong Kong to ban Star China from producing and broadcasting the next season of The Voice of China in January.
The ruling came days after regulators imposed stricter limits on adaptions of foreign shows,“to boost innovation and the creation of original works”.
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)
