Post by LaWkI on Aug 11, 2005 13:36:07 GMT -5
It's hard to come up with an original idea in show biz. Just ask Simon Cowell.
The acid-tongued American Idol judge has been sued, along with ABC and FremantleMedia North America, for allegedly ripping off the concept for his latest reality project, The Million Dollar Idea.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Federal Court on behalf of business partners Jean Golden and Todd Walker, the creators and hosts of the similarly titled series Million Dollar Idea, which is already airing in syndication on over 125 stations.
According to the complaint, Cowell and the network conspired to steal the trademarked ideas behind Idea and then issued an announcement in mid-July about a new series "created" by Cowell.
An attorney for the plaintiffs estimated the damages would reach into the "tens of millions." As of Wednesday evening, neither Cowell nor the network had commented on the suit.
Per the suit, Million Dollar Idea--the article-less version--was originally conceived of by Minneapolis natives and childhood friends Golden and Walker in 2001. The duo pitched the series to a local television station and by 2003, the show was airing on Minneapolis and St. Paul's KSTC-TV.
Currently, the show tapes in Mall of America before an audience and judges and features inventors and marketers presenting new products in the hopes of scoring a prize package and the chance to launch their product with a Mall of America retailer.
After three seasons and more than 30 episodes, the series scored a syndication deal and attracted attention from national media, including the New York Times and The Late Show with David Letterman, the lawsuit claims.
In early 2004, Walker pitched the series to ABC Alternative Programming boss Andrea Wong, who was "enthused" by the idea, according to the complaint.
However, Wong was apparently even more enthused when she heard about Cowell's plans for The Million Dollar Idea.
"It was probably the easiest sell I've ever done," Cowell told Daily Variety in July. "I did it on my mobile, and after two minutes of telling her about the show, she said she'd buy the idea."
Cowell's series, the articled The Million Dollar Idea, features a nationwide competition to find the best and brightest would-be entrepreneurs. Nine finalists will be awarded $50,000 in seed money and challenged to invest the money in the best way possible in order to secure a place in the finals.
The contestants will be judged by a panel of millionaires, who will determine three finalists. America then gets to choose the winner of $1 million in business support in a live finale.
Despite the glitzy front of Cowell's Idea and the hefty sums available in prize money, Walker and Golden insist that every element of the show was lifted from their start-up series.
"From stem to stern, each and every detail of Simon Cowell and ABC’s mock Million Dollar Idea is a patent rip-off of Todd and Jean's four-year labor of love," the plaintiffs' attorney Pierce O'Donnell said in a statement. "Cowell and ABC conspired to destroy the very essence that the show Million Dollar Idea is here to promote--the ability of the little guy with a big dream to take an idea and bring it to fruition."
ABC said in July that it had been quietly producing the series for months and had already ordered nine episodes which were slated to hit the air as soon as late fall.
But if Walker and Golden have their way, those episodes will never hit the airwaves. Among other damages, their lawsuit seeks immediate injunctive relief, preventing ABC from using the series' name or concept.
“It is incredibly ironic that our show, the premise of which is to promote, protect and reward small-town American ingenuity, was itself the victim of corporate theft and greed," Golden said in a statement.
"The arrogance of Simon Cowell and ABC is beyond comprehension."
(Apparently she's not an Idol fan; otherwise she would know exactly how arrogant Cowell can be.)
It's not the first time Cowell has been sued for allegedly borrowing an already established idea and calling it his own.
In September 2004, Cowell was sued by American Idol creator Simon Fuller, who claimed that Cowell had stolen the concept behind the wildly successful talent search for his U.K.-based reality series The X Factor.
The acid-tongued American Idol judge has been sued, along with ABC and FremantleMedia North America, for allegedly ripping off the concept for his latest reality project, The Million Dollar Idea.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Federal Court on behalf of business partners Jean Golden and Todd Walker, the creators and hosts of the similarly titled series Million Dollar Idea, which is already airing in syndication on over 125 stations.
According to the complaint, Cowell and the network conspired to steal the trademarked ideas behind Idea and then issued an announcement in mid-July about a new series "created" by Cowell.
An attorney for the plaintiffs estimated the damages would reach into the "tens of millions." As of Wednesday evening, neither Cowell nor the network had commented on the suit.
Per the suit, Million Dollar Idea--the article-less version--was originally conceived of by Minneapolis natives and childhood friends Golden and Walker in 2001. The duo pitched the series to a local television station and by 2003, the show was airing on Minneapolis and St. Paul's KSTC-TV.
Currently, the show tapes in Mall of America before an audience and judges and features inventors and marketers presenting new products in the hopes of scoring a prize package and the chance to launch their product with a Mall of America retailer.
After three seasons and more than 30 episodes, the series scored a syndication deal and attracted attention from national media, including the New York Times and The Late Show with David Letterman, the lawsuit claims.
In early 2004, Walker pitched the series to ABC Alternative Programming boss Andrea Wong, who was "enthused" by the idea, according to the complaint.
However, Wong was apparently even more enthused when she heard about Cowell's plans for The Million Dollar Idea.
"It was probably the easiest sell I've ever done," Cowell told Daily Variety in July. "I did it on my mobile, and after two minutes of telling her about the show, she said she'd buy the idea."
Cowell's series, the articled The Million Dollar Idea, features a nationwide competition to find the best and brightest would-be entrepreneurs. Nine finalists will be awarded $50,000 in seed money and challenged to invest the money in the best way possible in order to secure a place in the finals.
The contestants will be judged by a panel of millionaires, who will determine three finalists. America then gets to choose the winner of $1 million in business support in a live finale.
Despite the glitzy front of Cowell's Idea and the hefty sums available in prize money, Walker and Golden insist that every element of the show was lifted from their start-up series.
"From stem to stern, each and every detail of Simon Cowell and ABC’s mock Million Dollar Idea is a patent rip-off of Todd and Jean's four-year labor of love," the plaintiffs' attorney Pierce O'Donnell said in a statement. "Cowell and ABC conspired to destroy the very essence that the show Million Dollar Idea is here to promote--the ability of the little guy with a big dream to take an idea and bring it to fruition."
ABC said in July that it had been quietly producing the series for months and had already ordered nine episodes which were slated to hit the air as soon as late fall.
But if Walker and Golden have their way, those episodes will never hit the airwaves. Among other damages, their lawsuit seeks immediate injunctive relief, preventing ABC from using the series' name or concept.
“It is incredibly ironic that our show, the premise of which is to promote, protect and reward small-town American ingenuity, was itself the victim of corporate theft and greed," Golden said in a statement.
"The arrogance of Simon Cowell and ABC is beyond comprehension."
(Apparently she's not an Idol fan; otherwise she would know exactly how arrogant Cowell can be.)
It's not the first time Cowell has been sued for allegedly borrowing an already established idea and calling it his own.
In September 2004, Cowell was sued by American Idol creator Simon Fuller, who claimed that Cowell had stolen the concept behind the wildly successful talent search for his U.K.-based reality series The X Factor.