The New York Tims has a story today about the latest round in a legal squabble between two boxing reality shows. NBC's "The Contender," from reality-TV prodigy Mark Burnett, isn't happy about competition from FOX's "The Next Great Champ." But since ideas for TV shows aren't copyrightable, as several recent cases have reaffirmed, NBC can't deliver the knockout blow of an injunction against copyright infringement.
Undeterred, however, NBC and Burnett have turned to state law. Claiming that "The Next Great Champ"s producers violated California's boxing regulations -- most notably, relying on unlicensed promoters -- they've asked a California judge to keep it from being aired. The former chairman of the California State Athletic Commission filed a report asking the attorney general to block the show; NBC is trying to do directly what, so far, the attorney general hasn't.