The show, which is running for its third series in the
US, pits entrepreneurial competitors against each other in a race to win the job of a lifetime with The Trump Organization and a hefty six-figure salary.The lawsuit comes from Los Angeles-based production company Velocity Entertainment Group and its chief principal, Mark Bethea. They accuse The Apprentice's executive producer Mark Burnett and co-executive producer Conrad Riggs of stealing the idea after a presentation by Bethea in the summer of 2001.Bethea claims that in August 2000 he conceived and developed a reality-TV show entitled '
CEO', which had contestants competing against each other in a corporate environment for the ultimate prize of becoming the chief executive officer of an actual corporation. Due to his corporate experience, on-screen presence and credibility, Donald Trump was named to host
CEO.Bethea pitched the idea to producers, including Riggs, in June of 2001. During subsequent communications, Riggs informed Bethea that Riggs and Burnett were not interested in producing
CEO. Bethea contends that it was understood that Riggs would keep the concept for
CEO confidential.According to Ronald
W Makarem, lawyer for Bethea, his client tried to contact the show's producers when NBC first announced "The Apprentice" in the spring of 2003, but his efforts were rebuffed, resulting in the lawsuit.Gross revenues for the first season of "The Apprentice," which included 15 episodes on
NBC, are believed to have exceeded $100 million. The gross revenues of "The Apprentice," including the second and third seasons plus commercial products, are expected to multiply this figure.The suit seeks damages arising out of a number of legal issues, including copyright infringement, breach of implied contract and unfair competition. It is scheduled to go to trial on 1st November 2005.This is the latest in a series of disputes over
TV formats, including actions 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.Most recently the maker of Channel 4 show You Are What You Eat threatened to sue the producer of New Zealand diet show Eat Yourself Whole, arguing that the programme is a rip-off of its work.