The initiative of Patrick Menais had earned him a dismissal for serious misconduct in 2016 and a trial for “breach of trust”. Since then, he has exported the concept of the program on France Télévisions.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
Director Patrick Menais, creator of the famous “Zapping”, who was tried for “breach of trust” after accusations of Canal+ for having stolen the program when he left the encrypted channel, was released Thursday, February 23 by the Nanterre Criminal Court.
In May 2016, in a context of conflict with the new management of the chain taken up by Vincent Bolloré, he deposits on behalf of the brands “the zapping” and “the year of zapping”, which will earn him a few months later a dismissal for serious misconduct. If they have not yet been deposited with the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI), these brands were “notoriously recognized” as belonging to Canal+, according to the civil party.
“Elementary rules”
After a summons of Canal+, Mr. Menais’ deposits had been canceled and the chain had recovered the brands. “These marks, deposited in the gentleman, were blocked for a time and we had to fight to recover them,” said last month, during the trial, the lawyer for the Canal+group, Olivier Baratelli.
“I made this deposit to protect this brand. I did not want to grab it or take advantage of it. I immediately said to my management, in all transparency, that I had it fact “, had defended the accused, explaining that he wanted to” protect the interests “of the chain. “He did not make use of this brand, since we did not go to the recording,” pleaded his lawyer, M e jérémie Assous.
“It is an obvious relaxation on the condition of opening the file and mastering the basic rules of marks law. We can only regret that the magistrates who preceded those of the court did not do it before” , reacted Patrick Menais’s lawyer on Thursday. The prosecution had requested a fine of 10,000 euros against him during the hearing.
Since his dismissal, the director produces for France Télévisions “Vu”, a daily program similar to “Zapping”, which he had produced daily from 1989 to 2016. “I am harassed by the Canal+ group every time I Move a little finger, it is unbearable, “he said during the hearing, in reference in particular to the 44 million euros requested, in vain, by Canal+ in France Télévisions on arrival on the public channel of” seen “, A program that she considered as a” parasitic resumption “of” zapping “.