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Decision of Note: <B>Court Dismisses Idea Suit over TV 'Idol' Show</B>

By Stan Soocher

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, ruled that the creator of a proposed stage or TV talent show entitled “American Idol” did not have a claim for false designation of origin under the federal Lanham Act against the producers of the TV series with the same name. Keane v. Fox Television Stations Inc., 03-1642.

Plaintiff Harry Keane Jr. had claimed that he had fulfilled the Lanham Act's interstate commerce requirement in distributing a sales packet in which he sought investors for his project. But the district court noted a discrepancy between how Keane described the sales packet in his complaint and the evidence itself: “Nothing about the substance of this [sales] letter, which lacks any return address, telephone number, or other contact information, suggests that it embodies an attempt to sell an idea to production companies. Instead, it appears to be an effort to get 'sponsorship' from 'business owners' for Keane's company so that Keane could produce 'family musical theatre' in Marshalltown, IA. The letter does not mention a 'sales packet' or allude to any enclosures. … [In any case, s]eeking 'sponsorship' for one's own production and seeking to sell an idea so that others might turn it into a production are two distinct activities.”

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