The maker of Channel 4 show You Are What You Eat has threatened
to sue the producer of New Zealand diet show Eat Yourself Whole,
arguing that the programme is a rip-off of its work, according to
news site Broadcastnow.14 Mar 2005
Celador International is concerned by similarities in the format between the rival programmes. The New Zealand show, from UK production company 12 Yard, launched in February – two days before the first airing of the British version of You Are What You Eat on a rival New Zealand channel.
12 Yard denies the allegation, saying its format is original and that nobody at its company had seen You Are What You Eat before Eat Yourself Whole's pilot was made.
"This is just the latest example of producers trying to take action against copying of formats," said Yvonne Dunn, a media law specialist with Pinsent Masons, the international law firm behind OUT-LAW News.
Dunn pointed out a series of similar disputes: between the producers of the Survivor series and rival reality TV show I'm a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here; between Pop Idol moguls Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller over X Factor; and between RDF and Fox over Wife Swap and Trading Spouses.
Dunn said: "Given that UK law has fallen short of protecting formats in the past, it will be interesting to see if the increasing volume of these cases puts pressure on a change in the law in this area."