This Belgian series is a hit on Netflix but its season 2 is accused of plagiarism: “Striking details”, “A pure coincidence”

On the side of the producer and the screenwriter of the show, we refuse to answer and we refer to the VRT. According to Yasmine Van der Borght, the spokesperson, “the first proposal for Knokke off was written in 2008. Piet Baete’s book dates from 2011. The creators of the series have never read it. The possible similarities are therefore based on pure coincidence“.

A defense that makes the writer jump: “Meet Anthony Van Biervliet (Editor’s note: the producer of the series) in 2019, about a television series. He then told me about his idea of ​​Knokke which was still quite vague. I then told him about my book which took place in this city. So to pretend that he had the idea first and that he never read my book is vulgar. The similarities, down to the smallest details, are too striking.”

Piet Baete does not wish to go to trial even if he will inquire with his lawyer about possible steps to take: “Your journey of reconnaissance. Knokke off a clairement profité de Do not conceal me“.

“An idea is not protected by copyright, but…”

The Nieuwsblad asked an expert to decide: plagiarism or not? “An idea is not protected by copyright, but an original screenplay is.“, explains Hendrik Vanhees, professor at the universities of Ghent and Antwerp and Ghent. Is this the case in this case? It’s not easy to decide.

On the other hand, a second question exists. Who came first? The book dates from 2011. The producers say the series was already in production three years before. To prove it, they would have to show that a detailed scenario already existed at that time. If Piet Baete ultimately decides to file a lawsuit, “a judge will compare the two works and possibly determine whether there has been copyright infringement. He could then possibly order that the series be removed from the VRT streaming platform, and impose a sanction if this does not happen.“, concludes the expert.