Latimore v. NBC Universal, Inc.

In copyright infringement action relating to the reality television show The Biggest Loser, court grants defendants’ motion for summary judgment after finding no substantial similarity between plaintiff’s written treatment and defendants’ show.

Plaintiff Sonya Latimore sued NBC Universal and Reveille for copyright infringement, claiming that her written treatment for a weight-loss television show called Phat Farm was infringed by defendants’ reality television show The Biggest Loser. The court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment after finding no substantial similarity between the protectable elements of the two works. In addition, the court sua sponte dismissed plaintiff’s copyright infringement claim against her former agent Kim Fuller and McCreary & Fuller Public Relations Corp. because plaintiff’s copyright infringement claim against Fuller and the public relations firm is based on the same two disputed works as her claim against NBC and Reveille. The court also denied plaintiff’s motion for additional discovery and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiff’s state law claims for conversion, unjust enrichment and breach of contract.