Simon Cowell, ABC sued over 'Idea'

The creators of a syndicated American TV show, Million Dollar Idea, are alleging that Simon Cowell, the ABC television network and FremantleMedia North America have stolen their show's brand and concept in a lawsuit filed in a federal court on Wednesday.

Million Dollar Idea first aired in 2003. The concept involves inventors showcasing products before judges in order to win a prize to help them fully launch and market their product - including placing it for sale in a shop in the Mall of America.

Last month, ABC announced that it plans to air a show called The Million Dollar Idea. In the announcement, the network said that the show would conduct "a nationwide search for America's greatest entrepreneur with the best business idea or new product," offering a prize of "business support" worth $1m.

FremantleMedia, which produces American Idol for Fox, is to produce the ABC show.

The suit alleges that the group has stolen the title and key concepts.

"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 labour of love," said Pierce O'Donnell, attorney for Jean Golden and Todd Walker, Million Dollar Idea creators.

Max Clifford, spokesperson for Simon Cowell, strongly denied the claims of Golden and Walker, telling Media Guardian that the ABC show was a "totally original idea." The paper quotes Clifford as saying:

"It was a totally original idea by [Dragon's Den judge] Peter Jones and he and Simon Cowell put their heads together and adjusted it," he said.

"There are very few ideas where people can't say I did something similar. That's a fact of life. But ABC were well aware when they bought the series what was going out elsewhere in America."