PBS Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Lawsuit with Pacific Arts=== In the 1990s, PBS became involved in a dispute over home video licensing rights with [[Pacific Arts Corporation]], a multimedia company owned and operated by former [[The Monkees|Monkees]] guitarist [[Michael Nesmith]]. In 1990, Pacific Arts secured a contract with PBS to distribute their back catalog of programming on VHS under the [[PBS Home Video]] banner. However, in the early 1990s, Pacific Arts and PBS went through a series of serious disagreements. Lawsuits were filed: by Nesmith and Pacific Arts against PBS for breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, intentional concealment, negligent misrepresentation, and interference with contract; and by PBS against Nesmith and Pacific Arts for lost royalties.<ref name=Behrens>{{cite news |last=Behrens |first=Steve |date=February 8, 1999 |title=Nesmith wins $47 million in video suit against PBS |url=http://current.org/files/archive-site/pbs/pbs902v.html |newspaper=Current |access-date=May 30, 2016 |archive-date=August 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818000313/http://current.org/files/archive-site/pbs/pbs902v.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The lawsuits escalated in 1994 and 1995 into major litigation between the parties over these rights and payments. PBS and Nesmith and Pacific Arts vigorously prosecuted these multimillion-dollar counter-suits. The six plaintiffs included PBS, [[WGBH-TV]], [[WNET]], the [[Ken Burns]]-owned American Documentaries and Radio Pioneers Film Project and the [[Children's Television Workshop]]. They sought approximately $5 million in disputed royalties, advances, guarantees and license fees for programs and the use of the PBS logo from the defendants Pacific Arts and Nesmith. Due to the cost of the litigation, Pacific Arts was forced to cease distribution operations and suspended the use of the PBS logo on the Pacific Arts videos.<ref name=Behrens /> Though Pacific Arts distribution system had ceased operating, the various plaintiffs were counting on capturing a personal financial guarantee Nesmith had made to PBS in the original PBS deal in 1990. The cases went to jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in February 1999. After three days of deliberation, the jury unanimously sided with Nesmith.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mifflin |first=Lawrie |date=February 3, 1999 |title=Jury Rules That PBS Must Pay Video Distributor $47 Million |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/03/business/jury-rules-that-pbs-must-pay-video-distributor-47-million.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=May 30, 2016 |archive-date=June 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630171648/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/03/business/jury-rules-that-pbs-must-pay-video-distributor-47-million.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The court awarded Pacific Arts $14,625,000 for loss of its rights library, plus $29,250,000 in punitive damages. The jury awarded $3 million to Nesmith personally, including $2 million in punitive damages for a total award to Nesmith and Pacific Arts of $48,875,000. The jury resolved the outstanding license fee issues by ordering Pacific Arts and Nesmith to pay approximately $1.2 million to American Documentaries for ''[[The Civil War (TV series)|The Civil War]]'', about $230,000 to [[WGBH-TV]], and $150,000 to [[WNET]].<ref name=Behrens /> Following the ruling, Nesmith expressed his personal disappointment with PBS and was quoted by [[BBC News]] as stating "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief."<ref>{{cite news |title=Hey, hey, it's a Monkee victory |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/271357.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=May 30, 2016 |archive-date=April 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409001839/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/271357.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> The decision never went to an appeals court and the final amount paid to Pacific Arts and Nesmith was an undisclosed sum agreed to in an out-of-court settlement. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page