US TV
Stephen Lambert, producer of the US version of Wife Swap is apparently considering taking legal action against the FOX network for stealing the idea for the show.
The rights to make a US version of Wife Swap were sold to the ABC network, however FOX later came up with an extremely similar show, titled Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy. Trading Spouses began two months before the premiere of Wife Swap in the US.
"It's done quite well, but it's ghastly," Lambert told Media Guardian. "It's badly made. They shoot for one week and make two shows, we shoot for two weeks and make a single, one-hour show out of that.
"We've been told we've got a one in three or one in two chance of success [in a legal action]. It costs a lot of money to sue and it's very, very hard to be successful [with an intellectual rights theft case].
"You can't copyright an idea. It's all about assessing whether there are enough unique elements in a format for it to be copyrightable. In cases like this the judge will want to see the script, or whether the music for the programmes in question use the same notes."
Lambert revealed that the decision over whether to take legal action may depend on how well Wife Swap does when it launches in the US.
The rights to make a US version of Wife Swap were sold to the ABC network, however FOX later came up with an extremely similar show, titled Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy. Trading Spouses began two months before the premiere of Wife Swap in the US.
"It's done quite well, but it's ghastly," Lambert told Media Guardian. "It's badly made. They shoot for one week and make two shows, we shoot for two weeks and make a single, one-hour show out of that.
"We've been told we've got a one in three or one in two chance of success [in a legal action]. It costs a lot of money to sue and it's very, very hard to be successful [with an intellectual rights theft case].
"You can't copyright an idea. It's all about assessing whether there are enough unique elements in a format for it to be copyrightable. In cases like this the judge will want to see the script, or whether the music for the programmes in question use the same notes."
Lambert revealed that the decision over whether to take legal action may depend on how well Wife Swap does when it launches in the US.
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