CBS is crying foul over a new ABC show called “The Glass House.”
In a copyright infringement lawsuit it filed against ABC last week, CBS claims the show is nothing more than a “carbon copy” of “Big Brother,” which has been running on CBS for the past 12 years. The suit also says 19 of “Big Brother’s” former producers and other staff now work on the ABC show.
“The Glass House” is scheduled to premiere next month and features 14 contestants whose daily lives are constantly recorded. The show’s viewers will help decide which contestants will have to leave the house each week. The last contestant will win a cash prize. CBS’s “Big Brother” has an almost identical format.
CBS’s suit seeks to stop ABC from airing the new show, as well as $500,000 for each nondisclosure agreement violation, which former “Big Brother” staff members now working for “The Glass House” had signed.
ABC, which is also fighting off claims of racial discrimination over its popular show “The Bachelor,” said this suit is meritless. “The differences between 'Glass House' and 'Big Brother' are both fundamental and obvious, ranging from 'Glass House's’ interactive elements and audience participation to its deployment of cutting edge technologies,” a spokeswoman told Reuters.
