The entertainment program Fire Baseball and JTBC, which have been in sharp conflict over copyright infringement, will clash head-on in court this February.
The 61st Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court is set to hold the first hearing on February 27 for the lawsuit filed by JTBC against PD Jang Si-won and production company Studio C1 for copyright infringement and other claims. This will be the main trial held about a year after JTBC filed the lawsuit last March.
Previously, the court partially granted JTBC's injunction request in December of last year, siding with JTBC. At that time, the court pointed out that Fire Baseball was produced in a way that implied it was a follow-up season to JTBC's Strong Baseball, determining that this constituted unfair competition and ordering a ban on content production and distribution.
This conflict began when Studio C1, which produced Strong Baseball, parted ways with JTBC and launched Fire Baseball with existing cast members such as Lee Dae-ho and Park Yong-taek. JTBC has claimed that the production company charged excessive production costs and concealed financial records, leading to criminal charges for copyright and trademark violations, as well as breach of trust. In contrast, the production company argues that excessive charging of production costs is structurally impossible.
After the injunction decision, the Fire Baseball team deleted the main videos from their YouTube channel but declared their intention to proceed with Season 2, launching a counterattack. In response, JTBC criticized this as a trick to evade the law and announced immediate additional legal action upon the release of the new season.
Meanwhile, JTBC has decided to end the currently airing Strong Baseball (season name Breakers) on February 2, separate from the legal dispute. This is part of a scheduling adjustment due to the exclusive coverage of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics starting on February 6. A JTBC official stated that this is not a cancellation of the program but a period for reorganization, although the production of a new season remains uncertain.
As both sides' positions are tightly contested, the outcome of the main lawsuit scheduled for February is drawing attention in the industry regarding its potential impact on copyright precedents in the sports entertainment market.
