On the one hand, it looks pretty damning. On the other, credit should first go to ESPN or whatever ad agency first noticed that men (and some women) play fantasy football and make fun of each other. Shit, OKSports has been playing FF and shit talking since before this treatment was written. Very unoriginal idea, and there must have been a reason the original script wasn't picked up.


Anyway. THE LEAGUE COMES BACK ON THE 11th!


http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/fx-sued-copyright-infringement-over-league-56821

FX Sued for Copyright Infringement Over 'The League'
Published: September 17, 2012 @ 7:08 pm

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By Tim Kenneally
Writers Joseph Balsamo and Peter Ciancarelli have filed suit against cable network FX, claiming that the series "The League" bears far too much of a resemblance to a 2006 treatment they had written for a project called "The Commissioner."



"The League" creator Jeff Schaffer is also named in the suit.

Also read: "Sons of Anarchy" Creator Kurt Sutter Writing Half-Hour FX Comedy

According to the copyright-infringement suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York, both "The Commissioner" and "The League" -- which recently wrapped up its third season on FX -- both follow "a group of close friends" who "play in a fantasy football league for many years. The friends take joy in offending and torturing one another."

The alleged similarities don't end there. Among other familiar elements, the suit claims that both projects feature a "reigning champion of the fantasy football league" who has "won multiple times in a row"; groups of siblings who participate in the league; and aspiring entertainers who are referred to by their nicknames "and go through life aloof without focusing on the fantasy football league." (Those would be aspiring comedian Bilbo in "The Commissioner" and aspiring singer "Taco" in "The League.")

Also read: "The Americans" Gets FX Series Order

Contacted by TheWrap, FX said it had no comment on the suit.

"Given the numerous and striking similarities between the two works, there can be no dispute that defendants Schaffer and FX had access to and copied protectable elements of the Treatment," the suit reads.

As a result, the suit says, "Plaintiffs have suffered irreparable damage as a consequence of their inability to market the Treatment to television producers and networks with interest in their work."

Balsamo and Ciancarelli are seeking unspecified damages, plus attorney's fees, interest and costs. They are also asking that FX be ordered to destroy any original materials or copies of "any work shown by evidence to infringe any copyright in "The Commissioner.'"

News of "The League" lawsuit was first reported by Deadline.

If I got a group of guys into a room who had never seen the league before and asked them what elements would be in a series about fantasy football, a lot of these elements would come up.

The most important thing in proving these cases is not similarity but rather access to the alleged copied material. If there is no evidence, that they saw the original treatment, this should go no where.


**********
"naive as the dry leaves on the ground looking past the trees to the blue sky asking 'why me?'" -Blu

and are claiming that one of the League creators MUST have seen it, otherwise, there could be no way they could come up with a comedy show about guys playing fantasy football, replete with standard television character archetypes.
Total horseshit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/10rjad/we_are_the_creators_and_cast_of_the_league_ask_us/

Chalupa Batman MacArthur next year?

But man it was funny. Seeing ole girl from True Blood and then realizing she's Shiva just fucked me up. That shit was dope though.

Really good opening

I also really enjoyed them shaking hands after the scene with Andre in the bar.

From now on when I snatch shit off my co-workers desk I'm saying I picked it up on the waiver wire.

hahah i fucking love this show

DAMN SHE FINE!

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

That's a stop-in-your-tracks type fine.

No downturn whatsoever...they are already in high gear and Rafi hasn't even made an appearance yet!

hope repeats are somewhere too...

RAFFI!!!!

"Guys I got a POW camp setup if we capture anybody"

oh-MA-ha

Show is always killer when he appears. The kiss, forever unclean.

my favorite Raffi ep ever. He owns every scene! Can't recall a funnier cringe-worthy character on TV. When he tore off the breakaway pants and dove in the lesson pool with his banana hammock, I was done. Swim Instructor was great too. writing was extra hilarious in this one.

best Raffi one liners-

My sisters body is bonkers!

yellow's the other one!

how many do you expect to survive?

swim,swim,stab!

man he might be the goofiest character i've ever seen, he's the type of guy where you start laughing as soon as he appears on the screen.

that motherfucker man. FUCK!

Rafi: She is crazy we just had sex in the cab on the way over here
Ruxin: In the back of the cab?
Rafi : In the back... of her body

great writing this ep, the zingers were flying

amazing.

I am glad that everyone recognizes mma shirts are worn by douche bags. Hilarious episode. When he lasso'd the dick I was done.

Its been great to me

but last season was so good.

Rafi has had a disappointing season, but between the nut shots and his face during the "brown note", he killed it.

I dont think this season was as good as last but had some great moments.

----------------------

GrandeMarshall "800" http://www.foolsgoldrecs.com/800/
Andreena "Naked EP"
G Milla "Downtown EP" http://www.audiomack.com/album/g-milla/downtown-ep-1
Asaad "Troy EP" http://asaad.bandcamp.com/album/troy-ep

when he was beating the shit out of Pete's nuts in the car. Then he goes after "Brian" and he tells Pete "Stay in the car tall guy" I was fucking done.