FOX sued by producers of Wife Swap

**Mantenna** · 12-16-2004, 01:54 AM

Shame that Trading Spouses is more popular.

From Yahoo news; link to article here.

Wife Swap's Producers Sue Fox Over Show

The British producers of the ABC television show "Wife Swap" have filed suit over the Fox show "Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy," lambasting it as an illegal rip-off.

RDF Media asked a federal court Wednesday for more than $18 million in damages plus all "gains, profits and advantages" derived from the Fox show. The suit targets Fox Broadcasting and the show's producers.

The lawsuit claims the show, produced by Rocket Science Laboratories, "more aptly might be entitled 'Trading Copyrights' or perhaps 'Copyright Swap,'" and calls the Fox series "a blatant and wholesale copycat" of "Wife Swap."

Fox spokesman Scott Grogan said the network had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

"Wife Swap" first aired in Britain in 2003, where it was a hit. ABC bought the U.S. rights and announced its plans to air its own version, titled "Trading Moms."

In June, Fox announced plans to air its own version of the show with the title "Trading Spouses." Its show was widely criticized in the press as a copycat version of the planned ABC show.

ABC later changed the name of its program to avoid confusion with the Fox version, which aired first.

ABC is not a party in the lawsuit, but said in a statement: "We respect our producing partner's right to protect their intellectual property in whatever manner they deem most appropriate."

Earlier this year, producers of NBC's upcoming "The Contender" asked a judge to force Fox to edit allegedly unlawful bouts out of "The Next Great Champ" before it airs.

The producers claimed that "The Next Great Champ" was produced on a "rushed and frenzied basis" to beat NBC's series to the air and violated state boxing regulations.

Their attempt to keep the Fox show off the air was unsuccessful, although the series was a flop. NBC's "The Contender" begins airing in February.

Google · Sponsored Links

Frostelized · 12-16-2004, 06:34 PM

Actually, I heard Wife Swap was more popular. Wife Swap gets 10 million viewers, and Trading Spouses gets 7 million. But that's still good for both shows.

But urgh, Fox is a bunch of copycats.

NBC: The Contender
FOX: Next Great Champ

ABC: Wife Swap
FOX: Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy

ABC: Super Nanny
FOX: Nanny 911

eny · 12-16-2004, 07:24 PM

Actually the Fox show started airing first . When it did, ABC sent their board spammers to here to tell people their show was better. I remember our members were not impressed by their arrogance and neither were we.

Brekkie Boy · 12-19-2004, 10:19 AM

Eny - Wife Swap aired first - over 18 months earlier in the UK. Fox lost the fight to win the US rights, so as usual made their own version.

Here in the UK I've seen both the US versions of Trading Spouses and Wife Swap and the similarities are very obvious. It's time these blatant TV rip-offs (and Trading Spouses is not the first) were bought to justice!

OilPainter · 01-20-2005, 08:39 PM

Doesn't copyright law say that you can't copy specific works but that ideas are not copyrightable?

Dogg · 01-20-2005, 11:10 PM

um, this is how the tv biz is... reality shows in particular are all clones of each other

nobody is original

i've watched both shows before and i find the fox 'trading spouses' to be much more entertaining ...the only problem is that by now how are they still doing the 'twist' about the other mom spending the money, these shows weren't all filmed in advance

'wife swap' obviously was the 'original' they were advertising that show for a long time ..we were thinking it was about something else

but it looks to me like 'super nanny' was ripped from fox

mozzz · 01-21-2005, 02:24 PM

Funny that ABC isn't the one filing the lawsuit, even though they bought the rights to the show.

I really hope FOX follows through with their decision to back away from reality programs. How many times are we going to hear a complaint from another network that FOX has stolen their show idea and rushed to put it on the air first? Seems too frequent to be false every time. And then the shows FOX does come up with, get low ratings and they pull them midway through the season without warning or conclusion. Not a good track record in this genre of programming.

SpideySr · 01-21-2005, 02:44 PM

Interesting they claim originality when almost all the shows are ripped from BBC originals. Even Survivor was a ripped idea from an Aussie based show.

mozzz · 01-21-2005, 03:05 PM

Who is claiming originality? FOX had no comment yet, and RDF Media are British producers who bought the rights, although I don't know if they originally produced the British version of the show for Channel 4 (which isn't BBC, is it?).

I think it's one thing to pay for the rights for a show which might have originally aired overseas first, or anywhere for that matter, but to copy a show's design and put it on the air before another US network to get around it is just wrong.

Maveno · 01-21-2005, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eny

Actually the Fox show started airing first . When it did, ABC sent their board spammers to here to tell people their show was better. I remember our members were not impressed by their arrogance and neither were we.

So what if it's a rip off? Everything is eventually a rip off of something or other anyway. Besides..I watch both.

12-16-2004, 01:54 AM	#1
Mantenna . Join Date: Apr 2003 Age: 22 Posts: 8,519 Blog Entries: 1	FOX sued by producers of Wife Swap Shame that Trading Spouses is more popular. From Yahoo news; link to article here. Wife Swap's Producers Sue Fox Over Show The British producers of the ABC television show "Wife Swap" have filed suit over the Fox show "Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy," lambasting it as an illegal rip-off. RDF Media asked a federal court Wednesday for more than $18 million in damages plus all "gains, profits and advantages" derived from the Fox show. The suit targets Fox Broadcasting and the show's producers. The lawsuit claims the show, produced by Rocket Science Laboratories, "more aptly might be entitled 'Trading Copyrights' or perhaps 'Copyright Swap,'" and calls the Fox series "a blatant and wholesale copycat" of "Wife Swap." Fox spokesman Scott Grogan said the network had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. "Wife Swap" first aired in Britain in 2003, where it was a hit. ABC bought the U.S. rights and announced its plans to air its own version, titled "Trading Moms." In June, Fox announced plans to air its own version of the show with the title "Trading Spouses." Its show was widely criticized in the press as a copycat version of the planned ABC show. ABC later changed the name of its program to avoid confusion with the Fox version, which aired first. ABC is not a party in the lawsuit, but said in a statement: "We respect our producing partner's right to protect their intellectual property in whatever manner they deem most appropriate." Earlier this year, producers of NBC's upcoming "The Contender" asked a judge to force Fox to edit allegedly unlawful bouts out of "The Next Great Champ" before it airs. The producers claimed that "The Next Great Champ" was produced on a "rushed and frenzied basis" to beat NBC's series to the air and violated state boxing regulations. Their attempt to keep the Fox show off the air was unsuccessful, although the series was a flop. NBC's "The Contender" begins airing in February.

01-20-2005, 11:10 PM	#6
Dogg Shout out Randy Jackson! Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 3,351	um, this is how the tv biz is... reality shows in particular are all clones of each other nobody is original i've watched both shows before and i find the fox 'trading spouses' to be much more entertaining ...the only problem is that by now how are they still doing the 'twist' about the other mom spending the money, these shows weren't all filmed in advance 'wife swap' obviously was the 'original' they were advertising that show for a long time ..we were thinking it was about something else but it looks to me like 'super nanny' was ripped from fox __________________ The Whispering Bounty Hunter... *"Men are smarter than women... The first man on the moon was a man..."*

12-16-2004, 06:34 PM	#2
Frostelized FORT Fogey Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Northern Georgia Age: 21 Posts: 4,122	Actually, I heard Wife Swap was more popular. Wife Swap gets 10 million viewers, and Trading Spouses gets 7 million. But that's still good for both shows. But urgh, Fox is a bunch of copycats. NBC: The Contender FOX: Next Great Champ ABC: Wife Swap FOX: Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy ABC: Super Nanny FOX: Nanny 911

12-16-2004, 07:24 PM	#3
eny FORT Fogey Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 10,476	Actually the Fox show started airing first . When it did, ABC sent their board spammers to here to tell people their show was better. I remember our members were not impressed by their arrogance and neither were we.

12-19-2004, 10:19 AM	#4
Brekkie Boy FORT Regular Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 110	Eny - Wife Swap aired first - over 18 months earlier in the UK. Fox lost the fight to win the US rights, so as usual made their own version. Here in the UK I've seen both the US versions of Trading Spouses and Wife Swap and the similarities are very obvious. It's time these blatant TV rip-offs (and Trading Spouses is not the first) were bought to justice!

01-20-2005, 08:39 PM	#5
OilPainter FORT Newbie Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 38	Doesn't copyright law say that you can't copy specific works but that ideas are not copyrightable?

01-21-2005, 02:24 PM	#7
mozzz FORT Fanatic Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Seattle Posts: 706	Funny that ABC isn't the one filing the lawsuit, even though they bought the rights to the show. I really hope FOX follows through with their decision to back away from reality programs. How many times are we going to hear a complaint from another network that FOX has stolen their show idea and rushed to put it on the air first? Seems too frequent to be false every time. And then the shows FOX does come up with, get low ratings and they pull them midway through the season without warning or conclusion. Not a good track record in this genre of programming.

01-21-2005, 02:44 PM	#8
SpideySr FORT Newbie Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 26	Interesting they claim originality when almost all the shows are ripped from BBC originals. Even Survivor was a ripped idea from an Aussie based show.

01-21-2005, 03:05 PM	#9
mozzz FORT Fanatic Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Seattle Posts: 706	Who is claiming originality? FOX had no comment yet, and RDF Media are British producers who bought the rights, although I don't know if they originally produced the British version of the show for Channel 4 (which isn't BBC, is it?). I think it's one thing to pay for the rights for a show which might have originally aired overseas first, or anywhere for that matter, but to copy a show's design and put it on the air before another US network to get around it is just wrong.