Formats body slams ABC over 'rip-off' claims

Dancing With the Stars, the US version of Strictly Come Dancing, airs on ABC

• Increase image
• View all images

An international body dedicated to TV intellectual property rights has accused US producer ABC Studios of encouraging producers to rip-off programme formats.

The Format Recognition and Protection Association said it was "unacceptable" for ABC to claim, in a recently leaked memo, that executive producers and showrunners should "carefully scrutinise" whether licensing foreign formats was "necessary or appropriate".

UK producers' body Pact is also scrutinising the memo, in which ABC Studios executive vice-president Howard Davine wrote: "What is appealing in the format may be nothing more than a general underlying premise, which, in and of itself, may be no reason to license the underlying property."

The studio has yet to authenticate or respond to the memo since it was leaked to blogs in the US.

Frapa, which numbers UK indies Fremantle Media, 12 Yard Productions and Target Entertainment among its 100 members, said the comments attributed to Davine were "unacceptable both creatively and commercially".

"Formats belong to the people who create them and that they should not be used unlawfully by any third-party, even one as powerful as ABC," the body said in a statement.

"Davine's memo can be seen to be encouraging ABC producers and show-runners not to license formats honestly. If this is found to be the case, FRAPA will do everything in its power to help protect the property of its members in the international creative community."

Fox Reality president David Lyle, one of the association's co-founders, added: "If ABC and Disney refuse to repudiate the contents of the Davine memo, then producers in both the US and around the world might note their silence and help themselves to the 'underlying premise' of Hannah Montana.

"Producers might even be persuaded by Mr Davine's memo to be inspired by the 'general underlying premise' of a well-known Disney cartoon character. In the spirit of the memo, the rip-off rodent might be called Tricky Mouse."

ABC Studios are not commenting on the issue at this time.