Can You Own The Idea Of A Reality Show For Moms Picking Brides For Their Sons?

from the ownership-society dept

Wed, Dec 17th 2008 12:04pm — Mike Masnick

I have to admit that I don't watch reality TV or follow what's the latest in reality TV shows. I hear people talking about them, but it seems like half of them blend together with something about models who sing while cooking and designing fashions for eligible bachelors as an angry British guy yells at them and they hope they don't get voted off the island. Sometimes Donald Trump appears. Or something like that. So I had no idea that there's a yet another reality TV show out there on NBC called Mamma's Boy that apparently involves overbearing mothers trying to pick out potential brides for sons who apparently are unable to cut the apron strings. Sounds pretty horrific to me.

However, there was apparently a lawsuit over this one, as the guy who produces a Turkish reality TV show called Perfect Bride tried to stop NBC from airing Mamma's Boy, claiming that he holds a copyright on the entire concept of mothers and sons trying to pick out a bride (found via IPMaven). The guy claims he was trying to license the idea to a competitor of NBC, and allowing NBC's show to air would endanger those negotiations. Luckily, a court wasted little time (almost none at all) in denying the injunction, noting that there seemed to be very little likelihood that the guy would succeed in his case. Still, the case moves forward, and it's yet another symptom of a culture that has lead people to believe that you can own ideas, and anyone else who comes up with a similar idea (or, hell, improves on your bad idea) somehow owes you money.

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Filed Under: copyright, ownership, reality tv

16 Comments

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astontechno, 17 Dec 2008 @ 12:46pm

owning an idea
you're sitting in a patent office for your latest idea.

you pay someone to find out if your idea is patented.

if not.........then fair game.......
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 1:06pm

Re: owning an idea
Except you can't patent an idea. And this is about copyright, not patents. When will you trolls figure that out?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 1:17pm

mmmmm trolls
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Tom, 17 Dec 2008 @ 1:37pm

I demand money!
Hey, I was going to write an article JUST LIKE THIS ONE. I've had the idea for a a few hours now. Send some cash to my paypal account and I'll forget this whole "stealing of my idea" thing ever happened.
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Backslash, 17 Dec 2008 @ 2:45pm

I actually came up with this idea a few days ago, Tom, I will settle for $100000 and a stick of cinnamon gum
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Vincent Clement, 17 Dec 2008 @ 3:32pm

Re: Re: owning an idea
Really? Have you seen some of the patents that have been granted over the past 10 years? They are nothing more than a series of ideas stitched together into a much bigger idea.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 3:40pm

It's a shame you guys can't patent the idea of Trolling. You'd all make a fortune in licensing fees.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 3:58pm

Troll'd Hard
I imagine someone got their panties all bunched up because they got troll'd hard. Editor of a hair magazine? That was classy! OH i'm still laughing over that one. But that's what you get when you post anonymously. Good Job Troll.

Where should we crash next? John Biggs' place? Biggs' looks like fun- his RSS subscription feed is only at 34k. We could get it up to 250k subs in 3 months. Will someone let him know we're coming over to sleep on his couch and increase his viewership?
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David, 17 Dec 2008 @ 4:01pm

Mamma's Boy
Actually, the Eastern show called Perfect Bride was going to be named Turkish Delight. But that had already been invented, so he settled on the new name which stems from "women who sits around weaving carpets"
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 4:14pm

Its time for something drastic now!
MORE LAWYERS! LAWYERS BY THE MILLIONS!
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Mark Regan, 17 Dec 2008 @ 6:27pm

He's Too Late
I thought of that idea in 1948. I swear. Now he owes ME money.

Hey, I've got an ORIGINAL idea. Instead of raising taxes, why don't we take the public television airwaves and auction them off to the cell phone companies, and require the TV stations to buy a bunch of expensive new transmitters and tell each US citizen that they can NO LONGER view television on THEIR PUBLIC AIRWAVES unless they BUY a Chinese decoder to allow their television they had already bought to be able to receive the NEW TV signals.

The taxpayers will be happy in their delusion that we have NOT raised their taxes, the TV stations will be happy to spend billions of dollars on new equipment they cannot afford unless they RAISE the price of their advertising or run more ads, and the poor citizens who currently watch television on THEIR PUBLICLY OWNED AIRWAVES can go to hell after February 17, 2009, because Mr. George Bush (Chief Thief) and his buddy Kevin Martin (Chief FCC Frequency Thief) will be LONG GONE, likely counting the money they received from their billionaire cell phone buddies to steal this PUBLIC ASSET for them.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 6:29pm

I dont get it
Who is the target audience ?
Seriously, who would watch this, and what would the ads be like ?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2008 @ 6:59pm

The Bigger Problem: The Judge didn't throw out the suit
So the injuction was turned down...but the judge didn't throw out this lawsuit. And there lies the huge problem. Just like when Monster Cable sues Monster Mini-Golf; a judge needs to step in fine the initiators of ridiculous lawsuits, or it just won't stop happening.
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USCO, 7 Jan 2009 @ 11:56am

(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work
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Peter E Retep, 7 Jan 2009 @ 11:59am

If you cannot protect an idea in copyright [for a less tangible form], it must be fixed or embedded in a more tangible form to get a patent.
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Esra, 19 Jun 2009 @ 5:55am

Re: Mamma's Boy
Turkey isnt in the East you idiot. The show that airs is produced by some guy in İstanbul which is in EUROPE.
Oh, and that comment about weaving carpets was incredibly racist. Why dont you go widen your horizon or even try weaving a carpet that may exercise a few braincels??
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