[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'248392\' date=\'Sep 27 2010, 11:50 PM\']But the case has been decided, so I don't see how the verdict/award or any future litigation is affected by this. It's still "answer questions worth ascending values and make your way to the top of the money ladder". And the title is the same.[/quote]
Here's the case in a nutshell:
Celador contends that Disney and its subsidiaries ABC, Buena Vista Television and Valleycrest Productions conducted a series of slippery deals and secret arrangements that left the show's creators short hundreds of millions in expected revenues and profits from the show.
Unless I'm mistaken, Disney subsidiaries are still syndicating a show called WWTBAM. Up until this month they were vulnerable to further legal action by Celador for Disney's Hollywood deal-making and bookkeeping that Celador could claim was again/still shortchanging them. I contend that with the new changes to the format, rules and presentation there is now a viable legal argument that the program Disney is currently syndicating is beyond the scope of Celador's intellectual property.
Nobody owns "answering questions worth ascending values to make your way to the top of the money ladder." That's descriptive of a dozen or more shows over the decades (everything from $64K Question to Weakest Link). It's too general. A book or screenplay in which "boy meets girl, boy and girl break up, girl has change of heart and the couple marries" has been done a zillion times and is too general to own/copyright/protect. Too bad, or else there would only be one chick flick to avoid.
The devil is in the details. The details of the presentation determine the similarities.
Randy
tvrandywest.com
