Mathew Knowles, his company Music World Entertainment and BET are being sued by TVOne for unauthorized airing of the Essence Music Festival.
TV One owns exclusive airing rights for the Essence Music fest until 2014 but that didn't stop Mathew Knowles and Music World from selling concert footage to BET who simply pasted their logo over TV One's logo and aired the unlicensed footage on their network...
From The Hollywood Reporter
In late June, just a week before TV One was scheduled to air the 2011 Essence Music Festival, BET televised performances from the previous year. The airing is said to not only have interfered with promoting its coming telecast, but also to have constituted an infringement of its broadcast from the previous year.
BET is claimed to have taken TV One's 2010 show nearly verbatim except replacing its competitor's logo with its own. Nevertheless, the BET broadcast contained credits listing the TV One mark and several of its employees, indicating its origin.
TV One says under its contract, it held exclusive rights to exhibit and broadcast the 2010 show until August 29, 2014. In addition, the agreement is said to have barred Essence Productions, the licensor, from allowing other networks targeting African American audiences to exhibit its show.
Despite the contractual restrictions, co-defendant Music World Music, an entertainment company that has partnered with Essence and represents such artists as Beyonce, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, allegedly provided the 2010 TV One program to another company, which then provided it to BET, MTV, and BET's Centric Network.
