Atkins Thomson leads as Big Brother winner sues over Towie claim
Commercial television network ITV is being sued by Atkins Thomson Solicitors on behalf of a reality TV star who claims he came up with the concept for reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex (Towie).
Graham Atkins
Partner Graham Atkins has lodged a claim in the High Court on behalf of Big Brother winner Brian Belo, Sassy Films and Massive Television. Belo alleges that he came up with the idea for Towie and it was copied by ITV2 without his permission.
Atkins, who has instructed Ed Brown of Essex Court, said his client claims that he made a pilot episode called Totally Essex in 2007 - three years before Towie was screened - and that he pitched it to Lime Pictures.
The claim form states that Lime Pictures then went ahead without him and turned it into a show for ITV2 under a different name.
Belo is seeking unspecified damages, Atkins said. “We can’t put a figure on it yet,” he added. “There are rumours about how much they’ve made from the programme and we’ll see when we have a look through the papers.
“This has been going on for some time now, it’s taken about nine months to get together since we were first instructed.
“These cases are notoriously difficult to win, but we’ve offered it on a no-win-no-fee [conditional-fee arrangement] basis which reflects how confident we are.”
In the court papers, it is alleged that there was an infringement of copyright and “breach of confidence”.
Belo also claims that ITV has “reproduced or adapted part of a format that he created”.
Atkins said that the suggestion of the show being pulled off the air if the legal action is successful, is “just speculation”.
Lime Pictures and ITV have instructed Brabners Chaffe Street partner Mark Manley with IP and media silk John Baldwin QC of 8 New Square acting as counsel.
Lime Pictures and ITV issued a joint statement that said: “The Only Way Is Essex is an original concept created and developed by an award-winning team at Lime Pictures.
“Brian Belo’s claim against Lime and ITV is totally without foundation and will be vigorously defended.
“The creative team at Lime Pictures is very proud of Towie, and the notion that it was not entirely their own work is a serious allegation which is completely refuted.”
No date has been set for a hearing.
Readers' comments (3)
(HRH) Elizabeth Obisanya | 28-Mar-2012 8:53 pm
Belo & co will need it , the British Courts fail in the area of doing justice and i dont just mean it as white v black issue. NOT all the judges have sufficient (any) training & expertise in Copyright unlike in the ~States where they would have had to have worked for donkeys years in the film/t.v industry. here they dont and it shows in their judgements..
then there is the racism
Original creator of CASHBACK FILMS
Cashback v OH HAPPY DAY
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Anonymous | 29-Mar-2012 3:58 pm
It'll fail not because of racism or judges being poorly trained (although they are exciting excuses) but because the idea for TOWIE isn't distinctive or pioneering.
Thousands of people have thought 'if I put stupid people on television I could make a fortune'. Indeed I expect Belo got the idea during his 10 weeks of thinking time on Big Brother.
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Anonymous | 29-Mar-2012 11:55 pm
Anon @ 3.58 - I'd agree but for the fact that he filmed a pilot which he showed to Lime Pictures which contained most of the TOWIE cast.
I think the confidence case has better legs, but it depends on the level of detail in the synopsis.
The interesting thing is that Belo has no ongoing interest in format rights, so it might get closer to a decision. The last time we had a formats case the parties bottled it as they couldn't afford for there to be found to be little or no real protection for formats... it was in noone's interest for there to be no interest in formats. If ITV lose this battle then they may win the war.
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