$2.5 Million Awarded in Suit Over Simpson TV Ad

A federal jury on Thursday ordered NBC to pay $2.5 million for reneging on an agreement to broadcast an 800 sales number if it used clips from O.J. Simpson’s infomercial-style video.

Agoura Hills-based H & K LLC, which produced and owns the rights to the tapes, argued that it made deals with various television stations after it had been denied paid slots to market its $29.95 interview format video in early 1996.

Managing partner Tony Hoffman said he offered news programs use of portions of the tape--as long as they agreed to run the phone order number along the bottom of the screen.

Most news outlets, including several programs on NBC, used the clips but blocked the phone number, Hoffman said.

“They blatantly stole my property and used it without living up to the agreement,” Hoffman said Thursday night. “I’m now going to go after everyone else who used my property against the contract we had.”

Hoffman said his company previously had settled a similar suit against Paramount Pictures Inc.

Simpson is not entitled to any portion of the judgment, Hoffman said, because the judge ordered the jury to subtract Simpson’s royalties from whatever losses they felt H & K deserved to recover.

NBC officials could not be reached for comment.