ABC/CARIN BAER
Not exactly a foundation-shattering court decision here.
A federal judge has officially denied CBS' petition for an injunction to get ABC's new reality series The Glass House—which enjoyed its premiere on Monday—off the air, according to documents obtained by E! News.
So, what does that mean for CBS' lawsuit against the network and show producers which claims that they ripped off their roommates-compete-for-money concept from CBS' Big Brother?
Though that litigation is still pending, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Fess doesn't think CBS is going to get very far with that, either.
"The evidence before the Court indicates that, under the substantial similarity test, CBS is not likely to prove that Glass House has misappropriated protectable elements of Big Brother," Fess wrote in his ruling.
"Moreover, the evidence indicates to the Court that Big Brother's alleged trade secrets were either already known in the business (e.t., banks of monitors in multi-camera productions), were readily capable of 'reverse engineering' based on information disclosed in the public domain (e.g., camera angles), or were not adequately protected as trade secrets (e.g., tours of the Master Control Room)."
CBS also failed to prove that it would suffer "immediate and irreparable injury" if ABC was allowed to proceed, Fess decided.
The judge did, however, advise both parties to keep handy all relevant documents pertaining to the production and creation of the series. In its argument for an emergency injunction, CBS had accused Glass House honchos of destroying emails that could have been evidence against them.
But despite the loss today, CBS is chugging forward.
"This is only one preliminary step in a long road; we will now aggressively move two steps forward. We intend to proceed with our claims against Disney/ABC for copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets," the network said in a statement to E! News.
"At the same time, we will move forward with our individual claims for liability and liquidated damages against any current Glass House producer who violated their Big Brother confidentiality agreement."
CBS' concluded: "The Court was very clear that its Order was without prejudice to any future proceedings and CBS looks forward to the evidence that further discovery will reveal, particularly from the estimated 30 former Big Brother producers/staff now employed by Glass House."
ABC, on the other hand, is feeling rather confident about the future of its new series.
"We're pleased the Court agreed with ABC's arguments that The Glass House is a very different show and people working in the reality television industry should not be prevented from bringing their skills to a new employer," the network said in a statement obtained by E! News. "We are thrilled viewers will now get a chance to continue to enjoy and participate in ABC's The Glass House."
But if it makes CBS feel any better, Deadline also labeled the ratings for Glass House's premiere as "soft."
—Reporting by Baker Machado