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The English television company Castaway accused Endemol last year on stealing the formula of ‘Survive’: that the TV-docu-soap Big Brother could be based on the program ‘Survive’ from Castaway.
The English television company Castaway accused Endemol last year on stealing the formula of ‘Survive’: that the TV-docu-soap Big Brother could be based on the program ‘Survive’ from Castaway.
In Survive (also known as Expeditie Robinson) two groups of eight people need to survive on a tropical island. Castaway says they see many similarities that suggest that Big Brother is based on Survive.
Endemol denied this and pointed out the differences between the two series. Endemol says that the genre docu-soap isn’t legally protected and that Big Brother is inspired by many series.
Endemol claims that Survive is not unique. Big Brother and Survive can both be placed in the genre docu-soap and make their show unique by adding their own unique factors.
The court ruled that Endemol did not steal the format of Survive with Big Brother.
This example shows that a basic idea (following a group of people excluded of the outside world for 24 hours and making them do assignments) can not be legally protected. On base of this idea many shows have been made.
If the format is totally taken over, then there are of course rules broken (see the licensing of Big Brother in other countries, for example the United States). It is important to register every possible version