Project Runway will be bidding adieu to Bravo and then coming home to its cable competitor Lifetime this fall.

NBC Universal, Bravo’s home base, was not pleased. They actually waged a war on previous Miramax big boss Harvey and Bob Weinstein, whose latest business enterprise sold the series to Bravo in 2003, and charged a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the brothers’ namesake company.

NBC Universal announced in a statement that dibs on upcoming seasons of Project Runway, and charged the Weinstein Co. of signing a contract with Lifetime even before Bravo had the opportunity to match the proposition.

“NBC Universal regrettably had no alternative but to bring legal action to enforce its rights to this program,” it said in a statement.

The 13-page complaint states that the Weinstein Co. of “engag[ing] in sham negotiations” with NBC Universal, and brand’s the company’s latest five-year deal with Lifetime an “invalid agreement.”

Lifetime is not named as a defendant.

The claim stated, if disregarded, in Lifetime’s and the Weinstein Co.’s combined press release proclaiming the broadcast takeover. It announces that NBC Universal “declin[ed] to compete for the right to have Project Runway.” NBC Universal said it “categorically denied” that statement.

Weinstein Co. however, disputed that NBC Universal was demanding to “win in court what [it] lost in the marketplace.”

“We believe that this lawsuit is without merit,” legal counsel for NBC, David Boies, said.

Project Runway will stride on over to Lifetime in November as annpunced, for the premiere of the show’s sixth season. For those aficionados closely keeping the math, the reality TV’s fourth season just finished last month. Lifetime claimed that its count was accurate, signifying a fifth Runway season will be shown out on Bravo now until November.

Heidi Klum will still shine as host on the show’s Lifetime version; Tim Gunn will carry on as guide to the design contenders.

Klum and Gunn were equally cited in an article—Klum repeating that “fashion is about change,” and Gunn quoting his own his catchword, “Lifetime and I will definitely ‘make it work’ together.”

No news regarding judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia were declared.

Nevertheless, every single stakes would be void if Bravo’s and NBC Universal’s grievance succeed. On top of indeterminate damages, the corporations would like the court to affirm that they have the right to match the contract that the Weinstein Co. agreed with Lifetime.

It’s indefinite what result, if there’s one, the ruckus will have on Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, a makeover program that Bravo gave Gunn in 2007. (Gunn was quoted saying that he was “very excited to be part of the Lifetime family.)”

Project Runway debuted on Bravo in 2005. The just-finished season gained the series’ highest ratings so far, scoring 3.8 million audiences per episode.

The reality-TV series has been chosen for three straight years in the Reality-Competition Emmy (but lost to The Amazing Race). Just last week, the show got its highest honor to date, when it got a nod from the prestigious Peabody Award.

The court case specified the show’s progress, particularly, it suggests that the production company “has not been involved in any successful television programming beyond” the design show.

NBC Universal claims that Bravo “was the only one willing to give the program a chance.” It advises that the network and its corporate self “spent an enormous amount of time, energy and money” in “transforming [the show] from an untested concept into an unqualified critical and commercial ‘hit.’ “

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