One woman claims the ladies of "The Talk" stole her show pitch from 2008.
Angela Wilder, ex-wife of Los Angeles Lakers' James Worthy, is suing CBS under claims that she registered a show she registered with the WGA in 2006 named "The Mothers' Hood," a show for mothers that discusses day-to-day issues in their lives.
In 2008, Wilder claimed to have met with executive vp of reality and syndication programming at Sony Television, Holly Jacobs, to discuss her show idea, but it was ultimately rejected.
Two years later, "The Talk" surfaced.
Since its unveiling, the CBS daytime series has been touted as a mommy-version of "The View." The female talk show idea was credited to co-host Sara Gilbert after "joining a mommy group and realizing that all moms have topics they need to talk out."
The problem is that Wilder made her show pitch to Sony and a similar show popped up on CBS.
Wilder claims because of Sony's distribution deal with RelativityReal "CBS had direct and easy access to Wilder's treatment and her confidential intellectual property while they were in the development stage of The Talk."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS isn't worried in the least.
"It’s one thing to get sued over a project that was pitched to us but quite a stretch to be sued over a pitch that was made to somebody else. Ms. Wilder’s alleged offering to Sony played absolutely no part in the creation of The Talk. We’ll vigorously defend this case and expect to prevail.”
Wilder is suing Sony for allegedly distributing "The Talk" idea without compensation. She's also suing both CBS and RelativityReal for unfair competition and civil conspiracy.
By itself, you can't sue over an idea. Section 102 of The Copyright Act of 1976 clearly states original expression of ideas, not ideas themselves are protected.
"In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work."
Essentially, if you invented "The Talk," you would have invented "The Talk."
Since Wilder claims to have registered her show idea, the courts can find this an expression of her idea. From there, it would have to be determined whether that idea was shared.
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