Case over Golden Globes rights headed to trial

[March 08, 2011]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit by the organizers of the Golden Globe Awards, setting up a trial later this year to decide who will broadcast the star-studded show from now on.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank issued a tentative ruling Monday denying a bid by show producer Dick Clark Productions to dismiss the case.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the show, sued DCP and its new owners last year, claiming they sold broadcast rights to NBC through 2018 without proper permission.

The judge will decide who owns the broadcast rights during a trial scheduled to begin on Sept. 6 in Los Angeles.

Other claims of copyright infringement and seeking an accounting of profits will be decided later.

[Associated Press; By ANTHONY McCARTNEY]

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