Appco is also claiming damages, injunctions and costs because three charities cancelled their contracts with Appco after the Sunday Night program aired on June 18. 

The court case will force Appco to prove claims made by Seven's program were incorrect and made with malicious intent.

Seven's program includes allegations that 93 per cent of money collected in the first year of monthly deductions is returned to Appco and the marketing contractor so that a fraction of money raised from the public ends up with the charities. 

But Appco denies this, arguing "over the average life of a donor's relationship with the charity, the fee payable to Appco equates to approximately 9 per cent to 30 per cent of the total donation", in its statement of claim. 

It also denies misleading donors and allegations it is a pyramid scheme funnelling money up to owners and vice presidents, while contractors who approach people on the street receive little. 

A hearing has been set before Justice Steven Rares for July 21 in the Federal Court in NSW. 

A spokesman for Seven said that "whilst it appreciates the matter is before the Court, Seven is confident of the accuracy of the matters reported in its program".

"The proceedings instituted by Appco also question the right of former Appco workers to speak out," he added. 

Appco Australia released a statement condemning Seven's "baseless, misleading and irresponsible claims about our business". 

"Appco Australia is pleased that many of our clients have continued to support us because they know better than anyone how effective our services are and how wrong the Sunday Night report was," a spokesman said this week. 

"However, we have taken legal action against Seven because their report was irresponsibly inaccurate and biased. It has resulted in three clients ending their contracts with us, which represents a significant loss for us, but is understandable given the unnecessary pressure the report put them under." 

Earlier this year Fairfax Media exposed ceremonies designed to humiliate workers were regularly held at several of the marketing agencies contracted to Appco. 

Meanwhile 1100 former contractors claiming an average of $80,000 each from Appco are waiting for Justice Michael Wigney of the Federal Court in Sydney to decide if their class action proceeds as a single case or is broken up to reflect different sub-classes of contractors. 

"We are confident that ultimately there will be a group proceeding," the lawyer running the $87 million class action, Rory Markham of Chamberlains, told Fairfax Media. 

"We are confident that we will be running that through [the court] later this year." 

The Fair Work Ombudsman is conducting an inquiry into the charity collection industry, but its report is not expected until at least 2018.