Multiple People Demanding Credit For Hannah Montana
from the there-are-only-so-many-stories-in-the-world dept
You hear it all the time with almost any successful movie/tv show/book: other people claim that they had the idea first, pitched it and had it rejected (or, the creator "copied" the idea they had produced elsewhere). And now they want money and credit (but mainly money). Of course, this ignores the fact that multiple people tend to have similar story ideas all the time -- and in these sorts of things it's rarely the idea that matters, but the execution. Yet, two different and totally unrelated guys are now suing, claiming that they deserve money for coming up with the concept behind the hit TV show Hannah Montana. First, there's Buddy Sheffield, who apparently pitched a show called Rock and Roland to ABC/Disney in 2001 about "a seemingly average middle school student who actually moonlights as a pop star."Ok, but then there's Richard Fronduto -- who claims that all the way back in 1990 he wrote a pilot script for a show called The Secret Life of Sindi about, yes, a seemingly average middle school student who actually moonlights as a pop star.
Of course, back in the 80s, I used to day dream about my secret life as as child pop-star, as well (you should have seen my air guitar routine) -- as did probably tons of other kids. Let's face it: this idea is not particularly original in the grand scheme of things. Kids always dream about leading glamorous secret lives, and being a rock star is probably a pretty common part of that. But actually then taking that idea and turning it into the massive hit that it is today is not about the idea, but about the execution. It's unfortunate that we live in an age where we so celebrate the idea, but downplay the importance of execution. It highlights exactly the wrong situation and leads to silly scenarios like this one.
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Filed Under: credit, hannah montana, lawsuits
Companies: disney
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Sure, someone will comment that Disney "stole" their ideas. However, you cannot steal ideas. Ideas are not property. And it makes no sense to talk about stealing what necessarily cannot be owned. Furthermore, there is no deprivation when you use someone else's idea. If everyone can have the same idea, without depriving anyone else, how can one meaningfully talk about stealing that idea?!
Think about all the shows which originated from the show the Fugitive. The Hulk, Kung Fu, The Pretender, and Renegade all had the exact same premise: An innocent person running from the law who stops and helps people every week. Right before he gets caught at the end of the episode, he somehow manages to sneak away to help the next person in the next town.
All of those shows could be made because the idea behind the Fugitive could not be owned.
Heck, under Sheffield and Fronduto's theory, the producers of Lost owe the producers of Gilligan's Island a lot of money. As if the idea of people being stranded on an island could somehow be owned.
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Once again, you cannot steal ideas people! You can use ideas, but it's complete nonsense to think that you can steal what cannot be owned and what cannot be deprived.
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Don't forget Jem!
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Collateral Damage from "strong" copyright
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From the this-was-done-before department
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Representation
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Hannah Montana controversy
As a patent attorney, and well-versed in the reasons for the Constitutional protections of the arts and sciences, the founders had NO intention of protecting ideas without the execution of the ideas into something useful!
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day dreaming
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From the it-is-real-life dept.
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math
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