Both programmes feature individuals in remote locations, living off the land and being subjected to one-by-one elimination by viewers’ telephone votes. Both programmes had UK and US versions. The UK’s ‘Celebrity’ version featured the likes of Uri Geller, Tony Blackburn (the eventual winner) and Tara Palmer Tomkinson (who features on the cover of the new OUT-LAW Magazine). The US version is due to launch soon. It was produced by Granada and US TV network ABC, both of which have been sent a warning by Survivor Productions and CBS.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the warning states that they must not broadcast or licence in the US “any programming that is based in whole or part on the ‘Celebrity’ series or that otherwise infringes any intellectual property rights in ‘Survivor.’
Meanwhile, the UK’s Castaway Productions, which created ‘Survivor,’ this week sued Granada in the English High Court over the UK version of ‘Celebrity,’ seeking damages and an injunction to prevent further infringement.
Television programme formats can be difficult to protect under copyright law. The main differences between ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Survivor’ appear to be that the latter features unknown individuals competing for a cash prize while the former features minor celebrities and the money raised by phone voting is given to charity.
In the past, the format of Big Break, Jim Davidson’s snooker game show, was deemed something that could be protected by copyright; but the concept of Opportunity Knocks was refused such protection because the features claimed as constituting the format of the show were deemed too unrelated to each other.