Daryl Somers launches legal fight against Channel 7, suing for breach of copyright
TV legend Daryl Somers is suing Channel 7 for breach of copyright, just weeks after he was dumped as host of Dancing With The Stars.
Fiona Byrne
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TV legend Daryl Somers is suing Channel 7 just weeks after he was dumped as host of Dancing With The Stars for breach of copyright over the network using footage of John Farnham singing on Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
Somers has been replaced as the co-host of Dancing by Seven’s new shine bright star Dr Chris Brown with Seven confirming Somers had left the show at the network’s 2024 programming reveal on October 18.
Somers’ company Somers Enterprises Australia filed legal action in the Federal Court on October 17 against the Seven Network claiming Seven breached copyright by using footage of Farnham performing My Yiddeshe Mama with Tom Jones on a 1990 episode of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, without approval.
Court documents state that Somers Enterprises Australia, of which Somers and his wife Julie are directors, has since 2010 been the owner of the copyright of “the long-running iconic Australian variety television program Hey Hey It’s Saturday” and operates the online subscription streaming platform heyhey.tv where people can view archival footage from the show.
The footage was used by Seven in a Spotlight program special titled John Farnham: The Lost Tapes which aired on August 6, 2023 and was available on its streaming platform 7Plus.
Following a complaint from Somers team, it is claimed Seven denied it had infringed copyright, but removed the episode from its online platforms.
In the Statement of Claim filed by Somers Enterprises Australia, it is argued Seven had the opportunity to ask for permission to use the footage but didn’t.
“Prior to airing the broadcast of the Seven Program, a representative of (Seven) contacted SEA (Somers Enterprises Australia) to ask whether Mr Somers was willing to be interviewed for the .. program; (Seven) had the opportunity to seek a licence for the use of the Copyright Works, but did not do so,” the document states.
It is claimed Somers’ company has suffered loss and damage by Seven using the footage without permission including causing “damage to SEA’s commercial reputation by broadcasting and streaming inferior quality footage of the performance” and missing out on profits “as people who would have paid to subscribe to heyhey.tv in order to watch the performance ... will not do so because they viewed the performance for free on the Seven program.”
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