Nearly two weeks after a film producer sued Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, claiming they stole his idea for a TV show about them, a Web-based entertainment company has brought a similar court action against the couple.
ADVERTISEMENT
The latest lawsuit, filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, says the Osbournes' deal with MTV breaches an intellectual property rights agreement the couple signed in December 2000 with Threshold.TV Inc., formerly Threshold.com. The suit says that under its contract Threshold acquired exclusive rights to Ozzy Osbournes's "name, likeness, image, identity, persona, trademarks and right of publicity" for online works and non-Internet programming.
The agreement, signed for a term of three years and 90 days, expressly covered "live-action and animated programs ... or other off-line works, as well as the right to make sequels, remakes, spin-offs and derivative works," the suit said.
The suit seeks unspecified damages and a court declaration that Threshold is owner of MTV's "The Osbournes" series. Threshold claims it originated the concept for such a show but that Sharon Osbourne rejected the idea of TV cameras in their house.
"Following that conversation, the Osbourne interests negotiated with MTV exactly the TV show" that Threshold had first suggested, the suit said. MTV and its parent company, Viacom Inc., which the plaintiff claims were aware of Threshold's exclusive deal, also are named as defendants.