By Jeffrey Jolson

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/7/08 — NBC Universal today said it has continuing legal rights related to “Project Runway,” including a right of first refusal to future cycles of the series, which The Weinstein Company said it will not honor.

NBC-U said it “regrettably had no alternative but to bring legal action to enforce its rights to this program, including the right to decide whether it is in the best interest of the company to continue to air the show under the proposed financial terms.”

The Weinstein brothers are known to be tough negotiators with plenty of legal talent, so this competition should be more interesting than the show ever was.

The show announced it would leave NBC Universal’s Bravo cable network go to rival cable network Lifetime Television.

The show, in which fledgling fashion designers compete for money to launch their own line, has been one of Bravo’s top-rated shows.

NBC Universal filed suit on Monday in New York State Supreme Court against the show’s producer, The Weinstein Co, claiming that the network and Bravo had the right of first refusal for future cycles of the show and any spinoffs.

“Project Runway” will move to Lifetime for its sixth season beginning in November as part of a five-year deal, the network and The Weinstein Co said.

In the lawsuit, NBC claimed it has been negotiating with Weinstein for more than a year to gain exclusive rights to broadcast subsequent cycles of the program, but that Weinstein threatened to take the show to another network unless NBC agreed

“It is always unfortunate when parties try to win in court what they have lost in the marketplace,” David Boies, an attorney for Weinstein said in a statement.