A+E Networks has filed suit in federal court against Big Fish Entertainment, Half Moon Pictures and ReelzChannel over the series On Patrol Live, charging a “brazen theft” of its rights to the TV series Live PD.
A+E took the high-rated series off the air after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. Live PD was one of many shows highlighting law enforcement officers that were cancelled at the time.
In June, the Reelz cable channel said it would launch On Patrol: Live in July, produced by Big Fish with Live PD hosts Dan Abrams, Sean “Sticks” Larkin and Curtis Wilson reprising their roles and incorporating many other Live PD features.
The suit is seeking to recover actual damages, the profits generated by the new show, and punitive damages. It also wants the defendant enjoined from continuing to reproduce and distribute the show.
ReelzChannel said it "has not been served with nor had an opportunity to review the Complaint in detail, and thus has no comment at this time beyond denying liability and expressing its ongoing commitment to On Patrol: Live."
A spokespersons for Big Fish had not responded to requests for comment as of when this story was posted.
In its suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, A+E said it is the sole and exclusive owner of any and all rights to Live PD, which aired on A&E between 2015 and 2020.
“Without any authorization from AETN, Big Fish (the show’s former producer) created a clone of Live PD featuring the same primary hosts, content, format, segments, and more, and sold that virtually identical show to Reelz, a cable network seeking its first breakout hit, which then aired the show over AETN’s repeated and vociferous objections,” the suit said.
The suit also notes that when marketing the new series, the defendants said they were “bringing back” Live PD on a new network.
The suit includes a tweet from Abrams from June that says “the show will be back on Friday and Saturday nights sometime later this summer!”
“So far, defendants’ plan has worked as intended: the infringing series has single-handedly drawn millions of viewers to Reelz, which was the 89th ranked television network in total viewers in 2021,” the suit says. “Facing such a blatant rip-off, AETN brings this action against Defendants for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act and for trademark infringement and unfair competition under the Lanham Act and New York law.”
A+E Networks said in the suit that when production of the series — the highest-rated show on A&E — was suspended, it never “relinquished or assigned rights to create episodes of Live PD nor has it authorized anyone to prepare derivative programs based upon Live PD.”
A+E said it has sent cease-and-desist letter to the defendants warning them not to infringe on A+E’s intellectual property rights, but they went forward anyway with On Patrol: Live.
“On Patrol: Live copies nearly every aspect of Live PD: it covers the same, crime-related subject matter through the same format (i.e., a live series following police units around the country in real time, with hosts in studio curating and guiding the action, and pre-produced packages about cops/areas/hot cases during moments of quiet); it features the same primary studio host and co-host, who describe the unfolding action using the exact same catchphrases they used on Live PD while dressed as they often were dressed on Live PD; it has live feeds in multiple cities following several of the same police departments as Live PD and even some of the same individual officers; it utilizes similar percussive opening and closing music; it copies the same program segments (e.g., “Crime of the Week,” “Missing,” and “Wanted”); it displays the officers’ locations and their activity the same way; it transitions from scene to scene in the same way; episodes end in the same way, with footage of a police interaction continuing to play in the upper-middle part of a screen while credits flash underneath in white font, with police lights flashing in the background; and it even airs during the same time slots (Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m.-12 a.m.),” the suit claims.
A+E Networks is also seeking damages for the defendant using its trademarks.
“As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ infringement of the Live PD series, including the Registered Episodes, AETN has been damaged by such infringement including, inter alia, through lost licensing revenue and other opportunities to exploit the Live PD series, and Defendants have profited and are continuing to profit from such infringement, all in an amount to be proven at trial,“ the suit said. “Accordingly, AETN is entitled to actual damages and any additional profits of Defendants.
“Because defendants are engaging in new acts of infringement on at least a weekly basis and such infringement is willful, AETN, at its election, as an alternative to an award of actual damages and Defendants’ profits, is entitled to recover the maximum amount of statutory damages available … for each infringed work,” the suit said. “Because Defendants are engaging in new acts of infringement on at least a weekly basis, AETN is entitled to recover its costs, including its attorneys’ fees, in prosecuting this action,” the lawsuit said. ■
