Reality Show Sued For Copying Idea
from the idea-vs.-expression dept
Apparently there's a "highly anticipated" reality show coming soon to US TV called My Parents Are Gonna Love You, in which contestants on the show bring a celebrity home to meet their parents, claiming the two are engaged. There's some sort of contest involved in how long the "couple" can keep family convinced that the relationship is real. Sounds... painful. However, the producers are now being sued for copyright infringement by the producers of an Italian reality show that had a somewhat (though not exactly) similar idea.Of course, we're always told (aren't we?) by copyright system defenders that copyright only extends to the specific expression, not the idea. It seems pretty clear that this lawsuit is claiming the "idea" was copied. So now we'll get to see if the courts really do recognize that there is supposed to be an idea/expression dichotomy in copyright law...
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copying, ideas, reality tv
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Whether you actually violated a copyright or the filer is just batshit crazy, you still end up paying for a lawyer or a settlement.
There's no (guaranteed) cost-free defense against this.
When being charged with crime, there's "innocent until proven guilty." With lawsuits, it's "pay whether you did what someone has accused you of or not."
But we don't need reforms. Everything's perfect. Oh look, a new macbook air! Shiny...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Well, ain't that a bummer
There only TWO ways to make any real money in the reality television business.
1. You happen to win the lottery of right cast, right director, right exec producers, right network and time slot and right advertising backing and you create a hit that makes it into it's 3rd season or beyond (first two seasons are generally money losers for prodco's)
OR
2. You build a global network of production companies in different territories so that you can continue to lose money on the US production of a show (often), but because the show "format" is licensable in other territories, the global parent company of the US production company will rake in money by making 15 versions of "Big Brother" in 15 countries, and each of those will have pay a percentage fee back to the originating production subsidiary. This is the Endemol, Freemantle, RDF, Granada, etc, model.
#2 is frightening, because show FORMATS (ideas), are the primary currency of these companies.
The idea/expression dichotomy being clarified (towards expression) is definitely *not* in best interest of these multi-billion dollar companies; but as an independent producer, boy do I hope for some more clarity advocating "expression" of idea as the rule of law.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]