The sturdiness of the British legal organisation and strength of the BBC were both certify recently with the resolution of a case that claimed that the BBC had breached right of first publication with the publishing of a Doctor Who tie - in book that include mention of everyone ’s favored overused villains , the Daleks because their dad had published some Dalek books thirty year ago . Or something .
The case was brought by small publisher JHP , who had published books base upon the Who characters in the 1960s because of then - president Jack Fishman ’s friendly relationship with Dalek creator Terry Nation . Current boss Paul Fishman , Jack ’s son , finger that , because the BBC ’s 2007 Holy Writ The Dalek Survival Guide had covered alike ground to their earlier record , then their copyright had been violate . Even though they did n’t own the copyright to the material in those books .
Appropriately for such a faint case , the Judge ’s opinion was equally non - conclusive :
Mr Justice Norris determine there had not been substantial copying and it was “ inherently marvellous ” that Mr. Nation would have assigned his copyright to the publishing company .
Not impossible , not something that could be , you know , de jure binding or anything , just “ unlikely . ”
You have to love the style that British law work .
BBC bring home the bacon battle over Dalek book[BBC.co.uk ]
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