Rapper Paris accused NBC Networks, Warner Brothers Pictures, and producers Cheryl Hines, Denise Cramsey, Stuart Krasnow, Adrian Court Productions and Horizon Scripted of stealing his idea for a reality show in a lawsuit filed with the United States District Court in the Northern District of Texas earlier this month.
According to the complaint, the network stole the concepts behind Paris’ Your School Makeover and reused them to create their series School Pride. The rapper alleges he copyrighted the concepts in 2007 and then shopped the show around to several networks including MTV, Twentieth Century Fox and NBC via his company Guerilla Funk.
“In or about early October 2010, Plaintiff began receiving unsolicited telephone calls of congratulations for finally getting the work produced in response to advertising on the defendant’s NBC’s network School Pride,” reads the suit.
The show circles around students, teachers, and parents from a community that come together to rebuild a local school. Similar to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, at the end of School Pride the new, improved school is unveiled.
Paris and his attorneys also claim that they attempted to contact NBC, but all warnings were ignored and the company even denied the copyright infringement allegations.
He is seeking $20 million dollars in addition to $30,000 in statutory damages for five separate charges of copyright infringement.
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