IP and Entertainment Law Committee session, International Bar Association Annual Conference

“Dueling nannies and bad singing competitions – protecting television formats” – Speaker

October 8th, 2015 – Vienna, Austria

The session presented aglobal analysis of whether televisionformats can be protected and to what extent highly similar shows canexist on competing networks. Issues included the question of, (in a scenario where highly similar showsexist), how different do the showsneed to be and what happens when they expand into other goodsand services, such as games or consumer products.

Mr. Wilson explained the position from the perspective of Sri Lankan law and discussed Sri Lanka’s first ever TV format case which had just been filed at the time of his presentation. He discussed the arguments being made by the Petitioner to the case and the likely defenses the Respondent would have in the said case.

Key in house speakers were from Fremantle Media and Discovery Communications.