Link. At first I was confused when I saw this press release from CBS but apparently it is a dig back at ABC for copying Big Brother with a similar show that they have started, called The Glass House. CBS filed a lawsuit against ABC but it was unsuccessful. Keeping it professional CBS, keeping it professional. :lol:
That sounds like a very bad April Fools' joke. :wtf: I believe the ABC show was on yesterday or the day before. I don't think the CBS folks have anything to worry about. Networks copy each other all the time.
The legal action by CBS had absolutely nothing to do ABC's simply copying Big Brother. It has to do with one net's stealing another's intellectual property, and CBS is tying to set a precedent for reality programming. The executive producer of Glass House, who was a CBS employee that signed a confidentiality agreement, admitted in his deposition that he took the Big Brother "bible" and basically plagarized it to create ABC's show. In terms of regular scripted programming, think of it as CBS' taking the pilot scripts for Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, or Modern Family and making new shows with those exact same scripts and only altering them by changing the characters' names and setting them in a different city. There are currently copyright laws on the books that prevent nets from doing this with scripted programming, but there is nothing that prevents this in reality programming. That is what CBS is trying to do on this lawsuit. Personally, I hope it works if for no other reason that it will make the nets think twice before airing more crappy reality programming. As for the press release, I think it is funny as hell, and I love it!!!!!:thumbsup:
Sounds like they should have good legal grounds to sue for copyright infringement, but what do I know? I'm not a lawyer.
You may be the first person outside of the executive offices of a TV studio who have used "reality programming" and "intellectual" property in the same sentence, ever. :guffaw: And yes, it was hilarious. I don't think ABC ever had a response, but they would have looked stupid either way.