Albania

[AL] RTI Sues Top Channel

IRIS 2004-4:1/8

Hamdi Jupe

Albanian Media Monitoring Center

The Net of Italian Television Channels (R.T.I.), an organization defending the rights of electronic media in Italy, has filed a lawsuit at an Albanian court to cease the comedy show Fiks fare of the Albanian private TV station Top Channel.

The show has been broadcast via satellite since December 2002 and has managed to secure a broad audience that reaches beyond the borders of Albania. The R.T.I. claims that the exclusive copyright of such a program in Italy, entitled Striscia la notizia, belongs to the private Italian Television channel Canale 5 of the Mediaset corporation. The broadcasting of Fiks fare without permission therefore constitutes an infringement of copyright. The case was brought to court after several attempts by R.T.I. to request Top Channel to voluntarily stop broadcasting the program. Mediaset now demands that broadcasting of the show on Top Channel or any other Albanian television station should cease. Additionally, damages are claimed against Top Channel.