Nov. 15 (NBD) -- Zhejiang Talent Television and Film Co., Ltd (Zhejiang Talent) announced on Monday that the company has received a notice from Dutch-based Talpa Media B.V (Talpa), creator of the reality TV singing show "The Voice". In the letter, Talpa claimed it has unilaterally terminated the copyright authorization agreement of the Chinese version of "The Voice".

Last January, Zhejiang Talent signed the copyright authorization agreement with Talpa to produce seasons five to eight of "The Voice of China", one of the most popular TV talent shows in China. The first four seasons were produced by a Shanghai-base producer, Star China Media.

Under the agreement of copyright authorization, Zhejiang Talent should pay a total of 60 million U.S. dollars in installments to Talpa. Up to now, the company has paid 18.75 million U.S dollars to Talpa.

Instead of harvesting the fruit from the popular format, Zhejiang Talent received the contract termination notice. The Dutch production company claimed that Zhejiang Talent didn't make the payment as scheduled and further failed to take any positive move within 10 days upon Talpa's default notice. Talpa's statement shows that even after the termination of the contract, Zhejiang Talent shall pay the remaining 41.25 million U.S. dollars to Talpa.

At a meeting Zhejiang Talent held on Monday to deal with the dispute, board secretary Li Lantian said that the company had been communicating with lawyers representing Talpa, and the company didn't think that the contract could be terminated unilaterally. But Li also warned the worst situation, saying that Zhejiang Talent may lose the money already paid to Talpa once the contract was terminated.  

Wu Hongliang, chairman of Zhejiang Talent, said at the meeting that the company doesn't accept Talpa's behavior and will push forward the progress of "The Voice".

Ever since Zhejiang Talent signed the contract with Talpa, it has been constantly dealing with lawsuits. Wu said that the company has been busy with both production and lawsuits.

Last June, Zhejiang Talent applied to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, requesting that Star China Media immediately cease using the name "The Voice of China" in all publicity events, promotions, auditions and advertisements for its singing competition talent show.

This May, Zhejiang Radio & TV Group and Zhejiang Blue Star International Media Co., Ltd., registrants and owner of 26 trademarks relating to "The Voice", filed a lawsuit against Zhejiang Talent, accusing the latter of engaging in unfair competition and claiming 120 million yuan (18.10 million U.S. dollars) in compensation. This leads Zhejiang Talent to suspend its payments to Talpa.

Those lawsuits are still pending.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn