Hollywood Reporter sued by rival Penske Media Corporation
The next stage of the ongoing feud between the Hollywood Reporter‘s parent company Prometheus Global Media and PMC began today with the announcement of a lawsuit. PMC, which owns Deadline.com, TVLine.com and other digital media properties, is suing PGM for copyright infringement for an unspecified amount.
The lawsuit alleges “THR was so incompetent and careless in its theft, that it actually copied the original source code labels exactly as they existed on TVLine.com, and did not even attempt to rename them.” The lawsuit adds, “THR did not even make an effort to correct typographical errors contained in PMC’s source code. As of the date of this Complaint’s filing, any individual can go to THR’s website and, with the simple click of a mouse, discover THR’s blatant infringement.”
The lawsuit also claims The Hollywood Reporter tried to poach Deadline’s employees, to no avail. THR is also accused of beginning an “incessant campaign of misappropriating wholesale content from Deadline’s website.”
This suit isn’t the first conflict between the two companies. Recently, Nikki Finke of Deadline.com printed a lengthy email response to THR lawyers who allege she slandered the company with an earlier report about THR’s financial troubles. It’s a lengthy read but gives a good indication of just how tense relations are between the two rivals who report on Hollywood.
More on this story as info is leaked.