‘Live PD’ Producer Big Fish Hits Back Against “Meritless” Lawsuit From A&E Over ‘On Patrol: Live’
The battle between Live PD and On Patrol: Live producer Big Fish Entertainment and A&E Television Networks is heating up.
The Amazon/MGM-owned Big Fish has hit back at the lawsuit filed by the cable networks group in August, calling it “meritless” and laying out the reasons why in a motion to dismiss filing in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York.
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The crux of the issue is whether On Patrol: Live, which became a ratings success for Reelz, was a “clone” of Live PD, which was canceled by A&E in June 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing.
“In 2020, A&E decided to cancel the show, wrongly believing that the public’s interest in live police programs had waned. After A&E rebuffed Big Fish’s efforts to reboot Live PD at A&E, Big Fish moved on and developed On Patrol: Live, eventually striking a deal with Reelz,” the motion notes (read it here).
“After On Patrol: Live became an instant success on Reelz, debuting as the #1 cable show in the coveted 25-54 demographic, A&E’s decision appears short-sighted and foolish. To save face, A&E now tries to enlist the Court to award profits from a show it did not want, but there is no viable claim here, let alone under the copyright, trademark, or unfair competition laws,” it added.
In its August filing, the Hearst- and Disney-backed company used phrases such as “brazen theft” and “flagrant violation.”
However, Big Fish says that A&E has not alleged that its new show “copies a single original element” from Live PD, given that Big Fish calls the elements that A&E identifies “nothing more than unprotectible stock features of police ride-along shows, and often of news programming more generally.”
Some of the areas A&E has taken issue with include the fact that the show “toggles” between live and pre-packaged footage, opens with “percussive, fast-paced music” and include “Wanted” and “Missing” segments, all things that Big Fish points out are “commonly found in reality television shows” and thus not protectable.
One sweet irony is that A&E does appear to be arguing against a case that it won regarding its own Married At First Sight, where Yaina Williams took umbrage over the creation of the wedding format, a case that was tossed out by a judge in 2015.
“A&E also knew when it began working with Big Fish that the format of an unscripted television show following police on patrol was far from original; since Cops first aired in 1989, there have been dozens of unscripted shows following police and other first responders on the job,” the motion notes.
This is why, Big Fish claims, A&E included in its original contract the fact that the company couldn’t produce a show “substantially similar in content and format” to Live PD for a different network for one year after Live PD’s cancellation. On Patrol: Live came two years later.
“A&E is free to air another live police show. A&E also is free to air reruns of old Live PD episodes. A&E is not free, however, to use the copyright and trademark laws to stop Live PD’s creators from taking their talents elsewhere, after A&E turned its back on them, merely because it came to regret that choice. A&E’s lawsuit should be dismissed in full, with prejudice,” the defendants wrote.
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