CW, MTV, WILL THE PLAIN JANE CASE OPINION OF JUDGE WALTER MUCK UP THINGS IN THE BIG BROTHER CASE?

I am going to discuss facts that are all available to the public via court documents. Last year a women who grew up in the entertainment industry, with a famous television director for a father, attempted to break into reality TV. She had a 12-page treatment and a second shorter treatment, with slightly different details, for a make-over show. The title of her makeover show was, Plain Jane. She met in a coffee house / restaurant setting, with the former head of reality show packaging at Girsh Agency, Sandie Pepe. Later, Pepe told Tedesco in an email that her show was, "too soft", for TV. Pepe also told Tedesco in an email that she would not have time to shop Tedesco's work due to her being busy shopping her own reality show ideas around Hollywood. Later Tedesco saw a pilot for a show on TV that shockingly matched her Treatment. That show was, Plain Jane, of the CW network.

Judge Walter agreed to that conclucolusion on, 'shocking simulatiries' in his decision to not throw out the case.

Pictured here, to the right, Sandi Pepe. The true irony is that The CW is owned by CBS and CBS has brought a lawsuit against ABC claiming that ABC's, Glass House, "replicates every key aspect of Big Brother." So now CW, owned by CBS, has won a summary judgment in the copyright suite, the Plain Jane case, with claims that certain things are not similar or copyrightable while claiming in the legal suit, against ABC, that the very same," certain things," are similar and copyrightable. ABC lawyers, meet Case No. CV 11-6203-JFW (JCx), Title: Elissa Tedesco -v- Sandi Pepe, et al., July 17, 2012, Judge John F. Walter, US District Judge, Oder on Motion for Summary Judgment, Docket No. 89.

In reading the dockets and Walter's decision it seems like CW won in Summary due to the other side's legal team not really being ready for the Summary.  The request for more time for discovery was denied by the judge.  The request was made due to the new and second legal team for Tedesco coming into the case very late with almost no time at all to organize and serve papers, collect data, so on and so on.  The first legal team failed to do any discovery within an eight-month, or so, time frame and thusly they parted ways with the case.

 I will always wonder how this case would have turned out had both sides been equally armed with money for lawyers and outside, expert opinion, on copyrightable elements, plot, and so on.  It looks like, in writing up his opinion, the judge did a copy and paste from the CW's paperwork and ignored all the points made in the rebuttal.  In watching the CBS vs ABC case play out over the shows, Big Brother and Glass House, articles are reporting things such a studio executives beng deposed for seven hours.   I can see some deep legal work being done on that case and it is clear that the, Plain Jane, case never got the same type of deep legal work for the side of the writer.  

This leaves everyone who needs to pitch their show ideas wondering what is really protected by law and how can they protect their work.  In my next blog entry I will take a look into this matter of protecting one's work.