SCOTT COLLINS
Posted online: Friday, December 17, 2004 at 0000 hours IST

LOS ANGELES, DECEMBER 16: TV producers are headed to court again over a ??copycat?? reality show. RDF Media Ltd., the British producer of ABC?s program Wife Swap, sued Fox in US District Court on Wednesday, claiming Fox Broadcasting?s Trading Spouses is a ??blatant and wholesale copycat?? of their show. Both series detail the experiences of real-life women who temporarily switch families.

RDF claims that Fox decided to rip off their idea after Wife Swap became a hit in Britain and was sold to ABC. The copyright infringement suit, filed in US District Court in the Central District of California, seeks at least $18 million in damages. Rocket Science Laboratories, a production company that partnered with Fox, was also named as a defendant.

This is the second time this year that a Fox reality series has inspired a copycat claim. The producers of NBC?s upcoming boxing show The Contender with Sylvester Stallone filed suit last summer against Fox and the studio Endemol USA, saying Fox?s Next Great Champ ripped off the NBC show and also violated boxing laws in a rush to air. But in September, an LA Superior Court judge declined to block the broadcast of Champ, citing First Amendment concerns. ?LAT-WP

I was just gonna post this.

I think it's silly. Networks copy each other all the time.