Japanese broadcaster sues ABC over 'Wipeout'

Leading Japanese broadcaster Tokyo Broadcasting System has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against ABC, charging that summer hit "Wipeout" is "a blatant copycat" of several of its classic Japanese competition series.

TBS owns the Japanese copyright to the obstacle course series "Takeshi's Castle," co-owns the right to Spike TV's "MXC" (which uses footage from "Castle") and owns the copyright to competition series "Sasuke" (whose dubbed repeats air under the title "Ninja Warrior" on G4).

"From the moment ABC revealed 'Wipeout' to the public, that program has been routinely described as a 'rip-off" and 'knockoff" of Plaintiff's shows," reads the complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
"ABC's willful and wrongful use of Plaintiff's shows to create 'Wipeout' is egregious, inexcusable and not to be tolerated."

Among the charges are that ABC bought search terms such as "MXC" on Google to help drive traffic to the official "Wipeout" page, and that specific obstacles in "Wipeout" were knock-offs of challenges in the Japanese shows.

"'Wipeout' unlawfully appropriates the premise, the format, the sequence of events, the introductory segment, the tone, the scene setups, the narration, the dialogue that arises from constructed situations ... of the shows," the lawsuit reads.

Successful reality series often draw lawsuits from parties alleging the concept was stolen. However, the complaints usually involve producing entities. A major broadcast network suing another over a reality series is extremely rare. In 2002, CBS accused ABC of knocking off "Survivor" with its reality effort "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here," yet a judge ruled in ABC's favor and allowed the show to continue.

Spike TV had earlier issued a press release joking about the shows being alike, though a producer of "MXC" was less amused by the similarity.

Notably missing from the defendant list on TBS' complaint is Endemol USA, the company producing "Wipeout." A separate lawsuit against Endemol is pending, sources said.

In addition to its successful run in the U.S., Endemol is actively selling the show's format around the world, directly competing with the formats for TBS' series.

The suit on behalf of TBS was filed by top litigation attorney Larry Stein, known mostly for his high-profile profit participation cases.

He has filed two major complaints against ABC in the past, one involving the producers of longrunning comedy "Home Improvement" and one involving "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" producer Celador, which is awaiting trial.

In July, ABC Studios was slammed for a leaked memo which has been described as a blueprint for stealing foreign formats (though it should be noted that the letter was from the studio instead of the network, and related to scripted programming instead of reality).

ABC and Stein had no comment.

--Matt Belloni contributed to this report.

Comments

[Clay Dowling]

This suit was too long in coming. ABC's show is a very weak attempt to clone shows like Sasuke. For the sake of the viewing public, if nothing else, the shows should be pulled. ABC would be much better off to license these shows or their concepts from their Japanese producers. I'm not normally a fan of foreign television, but this is a clear case of the Japanese creators "getting" what the public wants, and the American copycat being completely in the dark about what works.

[El Padrote]

Have you watched the show? Ripoff or not, making out-of-shape people attempt ridiculous obstacles never stops being funny. It did very well in the ratings, which is an objective measure of what "works", if we define that term as "what people like".

I've gotta say, though: after a handful of episodes, they saw fit to have not one, but two clip shows. I admit that I watched them, but I wasn't proud of myself.

[Stina]

I think the "American copycat" as Mr. Dowling puts it is not in the dark at all about what works because Wipeout seemed to be a complete success to me. It was the best new show of the summer. It was hilarious watching all of the wipeouts and having the commentators along for the ride was the icing on the cake. I wouldn't have changed anything on that show.

[Straticus]

Good! Sue em! Sasuke / Ninja Warrior is the real deal when it comes to obstacle courses and Wipeout claiming that its the hardest one ever built is ridiculous! Hope ABC learns their lesson when it comes to how they advertise their show. Go TBS!!!

[Straticus]

Good! Sue em! Sasuke / Ninja Warrior is the real deal when it comes to obstacle courses and Wipeout claiming that its the hardest one ever built is ridiculous! Hope ABC learns their lesson when it comes to how they advertise their show. Go TBS!!!

[Medina]

I love Wipeout and had never heard of the Japanese shows that they were "based" on. I found one of them on Spike TV (I think) and could only watch 5 minutes of it before I got bored out of my mind. I think it was MXC. It wasn't funny, it wasn't interesting and I couldn't understand why anyone thought Wipeout was just like it. What's next, will the Bachelor sue Flavor of Love for ripping off their idea? Wipeout is funny and silly and great entertainment. There are very few original ideas out there. If the Japanese shows were better then they would be on network tv here and getting great ratings. But, oh, they're not! Leave Wipeout alone!