Shailene Woodley’s Mary Jane Role Cut From ‘The … 
‘Star Wars’ Cast Breakdown Unveiled 
CAA Signs Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, Oscar-Winning … 
UPDATE: Dan Abrams Named New ‘Nightline’ Anchor … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘The Voice’ Finale On Par … 
Joy Bryant Returns To Longtime Agent Steve Alexander At … 
ITV Pays $30M For Controlling Stake In ‘Hatfields … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Anchorman 2′ 
2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Time Warner Cable Sued For Passing Lakers-Dodgers Costs On … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Lego Movie’ 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Breaking … A federal judge today has denied ABC’s efforts to slow down CBS’ desire for a temporary restraining order to shut down alleged Big Brother rip-off Glass House. ABC now has until 5 PM Monday to file any opposition to the TRO request CBS filed late last night. Once ABC, who had asked for a more expedited schedule on any TRO, file their material, CBS lawyers will likely respond by the next day. All of which means a hearing on the TRO request to shut down production and the June 18 debut of Glass House will likely occur sometime next week. Judge Gary Feess made the ruling (Read it here) in chambers after a series of legal moves on both networks’ parts throughout the day. CBS sued ABC and several former Big Brother producers on May 10 claiming that ABC’s new reality show Glass House is a blatant copyright infringement of their series. ABC has rejected the claims and the two are now locked in a legal battle with the clock ticking.
CBS, in its initial suit, cited copyright infringement, trade-secret misappropriation, unfair competition, breach of contract and conspiracy among other claims. ABC countered by saying that there was “no merit” to CBS’ lawsuit. The two networks have been fighting over the discovery side of the case, going back and forth over who wil share what with who — an approach CBS calls “ABC’s run-out-the-clock strategy.” Meanwhile, ABC has proceeded with announcing the cast for Glass House and running a promo campaign for the series. CBS proceeded with its legal action against Disney as well as the individual producers who once worked on Big Brother and are now on Glass House, which the network claims are in violation of their Big Brother NDAs. Former Big Brother producer Kenny Rosen gave a long deposition to CBS lawyers on June 3, revealing elements that CBS says proves their claims of breach of NDA, copyright infringement and trade-secret misappropriation, . CBS is represented by Scott Edelman, Michael Seitz, Theane Evangelis Kapur and Blaine Evanson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. ABC is represented by Glenn Pomerantz, Jonathan Altman and Carolyn Hoecker Luedtke of Munger, Tolles & Olson.
Loading ...
Love this. Oddly, at the end of the day, if ABC were permitted to proceed with production…the show will still be a flop.
ABC is very good at bringing copied/reworked ‘flavor of the month’ shows (i.e. DUETS) to the market so late and so badly. They are extremely weak developing new shows of quality (Modern Family and a few other exceptions).
So, even if Glass House made it to air…it is airing on ABC. And, that says it all.
You beat me to it. All this time, money and effort to fight for a show that will be canceled after one season.
One has to wonder why ABC doesn’t sue CBS for the obvious THE VIEW rip off, THE TALK.
I agree, CBS can do whatever it wants and get away with it. Looks like the Chen bot wins again, and sticks to her convictions, the bitch.
ARE YOU SERIOUS CBS……how many freaken copies do we have of..idol, and duets and the voice…give us all a break- there is nothing sacred about a piece of crap like big brother. SMART JUDGE!
There are plenty of similar shows of similar shows but CBS alleges a copyright infringement contending that this is an exact copy of their show and that their producers are violating their non-disclosure agreements (the aforementioned NDA)and probably there is a non-compete clause built into the NDA, as well. Big difference between that kind of claim and just the fact that a show would be similar.
Regardless, the judge’s ruling had nothing to do with the merits of the case. It had to do with the civil rules of procedure and ABC couldn’t present a compelling reason to side with them over the bending of the rules.
Hum, junior lawyer on the case?
I don’t think you actually read the article, or if you did your post makes no sense. In case you missed the “subtleties”, the judge ruled against ABC – not CBS.
Best advice here…cancel this drivel of a show now before even airing it as it has disaster written all over it. Wake up ABC!
The clear ” conflict of interest ” in the case is the fact that the same individuals who designed Big Brothers for CBS, now producing Glass House for ABC, which means they used the exact same idea that they came up with for CBS and made minor adjustments for ABC and call it Glass House, they sold practically the exact same idea twice to two different networks…this is very un ethical, they’re now putting themselves and the networks in the predicament that they’re in…..shame on them for hustling people…..Judge Feess should pull the plug indefinitely on Glass House, I guarantee you it is the exact same show as Big Brothers….
Have to be honorable in all of our business dealings or people will not trust you in the future as demonstrated here. CBS is right!
If it is the “exact same idea” then why does the active ABC web page for Glass House indicate an entirely different concept, theme and execution? Are you alleging that what was “sold” to ABC is not what Glass House is now? If so, that obviates any need for a TRO, but suggests there is reason to seek recourse against the individual(s) who shopped a show that wasn’t used. Failure scenario for CBS.
Factually — that the people you allege “sold” the show to both networks — is not true in the first instance. CBS, actually holds only the North American rights to the show via agreement with Endemol, not any group of people you say pitched the show, as evidenced by the fact that CBS fired the producers of BB Season 1 and brought in Arnold Shapiro who made BB a hit. Endemol is the actual owner of the BB international copyright. The company sued Princess Productions in the UK over their plans to do a show — in a house on a sound stage for Channel 5 — titled “Back to Reality.” Princess made minor changes to the format and had a successful season with a cast that included to Americans.
I know from personal experience, that reality producers used bits and pieces of thinks from other show we have worked on or watched with interest. There is nothing here to restrain. If BB fails this season, it will be because Grodner long ago stopped producing good TV, and not because ABC has a different idea. Heck, if anyone should have been bitching, it should have been Bunim-Murray Productions who created The Real World. One could easily argue that BB is nothing more than a condensed version of Real World with rapid editing and exported feeds.
(In the spirit of full disclosure, a company I owned secured for a limited time the rights to Princess Production’s “Back to Reality,” and thus have detailed knowledge of the suit by Endemol against Princess Productions, having done our due diligence at the time.)
“Have to be honorable in all of our business dealings or people will not trust you in the future as demonstrated here.”
You do remember this is Hollywood? lol
Ahh CBS… the kings of originality. The network that airs wall-to-wall, completely indistinguishable, crime dramas all week.
Is it me or has the “Rip-Off” trend gone into hyper drive? Within (literally) hours of the final installment of History Channel’s mega ratings hit, “Hatfield’s & McCoy’s”, NBC announces it is developing a series based on…..the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s. Also, within days of the final episode of season 2 of PBS’s hit “Sherlock Holmes”, CBS confirms a pilot for summer 2012 airing named “Elementary” starring Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as Dr. Watson. This to me is the television industry’s ongoing attempt at copycat programming when they see someone else with a ratings winner. This is really not a “trend”…..its business as usual.
CBS hasn’t had any problem ripping off itself. The past four years of Big Brother have just been regurgitations of previous seasons– without an original idea on screen. If ABC makes even a few changes in format they might have a 2% chance of making interesting TV.