DOCTOR WHO - BBC CLEARED OF INFRINGING COPYRIGHT RULES WITH DALEK BOOK

BBC CLEARED OF INFRINGING COPYRIGHT RULES WITH DALEK BOOK

A BBC book about the Doctor Who characters the Daleks has been cleared of infringing copyright laws.

Publishers JHP, who published four books with Dalek creator Terry Nation in the 1960s, brought the legal case against the BBC.

Paul Fishman, JHP's managing director, alleged that a book from the BBC entitled Dalek Survival Guide published in 2002 used material from their books and violated their copyright.

However at the high court today, Mr Justice Norris said that while JHP held the licence to publish the 1960s books, it did not hold the copyright.

The judge announced that it was "inherently improbable" that the Daleks creator Mr Nation would have assigned his copyright of the characters to JHP.

A BBC spokesman welcomed the decision, saying: "We are extremely pleased that Mr Justice Norris has ruled in our favour today and found that we did not infringe any copyright or use unauthorised material in our publication The Dalek Survival Guide.

"BBC Worldwide has vigorously defended this litigation and we're pleased the matter has now concluded."

David Tennant is the current Doctor Who and has been joined by Catherine Tate as his new side-kick for the current series on BBC One.