Source: Entertainment Network, Inc.
By: Company Press Release
(NEW YORK, NY) — Entertainment Network, Inc., the operators of the popular Internet Web site VoyeurDorm.com, filed suit today in Federal Court against CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS – news) and Infinity Broadcasting Corp. (NYSE: INF – news) for misappropriation of trade secrets and have asked the judge to halt broadcast of the planned CBS program “Big Brother.”
Entertainment Network, Inc. of Tampa, Florida, claims that CBS learned all it could about VoyeurDorm.com during a series of meetings in 1999, then violated a non-disclosure agreement and reneged on a proposal to develop a joint project. Instead of going forward with a plan to create a similar site, DJDorm, CBS spent $20 million to buy “Big Brother” from a Dutch company, Endemol Entertainment Holding NV. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“We are seeking an injunction and damages because of the irreparable harm CBS and its sister company Infinity have caused to VoyeurDorm.com as a result of the network’s use of information disclosed during meetings with Harvey Pearlman, vice president and general manager of Infinity, and other CBS executives,” according to Robert F. Brodegaard of the New York law firm of Thacher Proffitt and Wood, which represents the VoyeurDorm owners.
Since 1998, VoyeurDorm.com has transmitted live video feeds over the Internet from inside a dorm-like residence in Tampa where six or seven female college students reside. Entertainment Network pays the girls’ college tuition in return for their agreement to live before 55 cameras that are turned on 24 hours a day. The dorm has been widely covered by national and international media, and several of the coeds have become celebrities in their own right. The complaint alleges that Infinity was impressed by VoyeurDorm’s success and asked Entertainment Network to develop a similar concept for disc jockeys of Wild 98.7, a Tampa radio station owned by Infinity.
“Voyeurdorm.com is one of the best known and successful reality Web sites in the world, so it was not a surprise that CBS wanted us to build a site for them,” said David Marshlack, President of Entertainment Network, Inc. “We had numerous meetings with the CBS people, during which they vacuumed up all the information they could about how we operate VoyeurDorm.com. As they took copious notes, they kept promising us we were on the fast track to both a radio and a television show. We were stunned to read in the papers that they had bought the rights to ‘Big Brother.’ We believe they used proprietary information we gave them in violation of a non-disclosure agreement, including our revenue figures, to justify spending $20 million for rights to ‘Big Brother.’ We never saw a penny from CBS and Mr. Pearlman suddenly became unavailable.”
The complaint against CBS says that during the course of several development meetings – held after several CBS executives signed the non- disclosure agreement – Harvey Pearlman “explained he was a highly influential executive at CBS who could obtain necessary approvals for the implementation of DJDorm” and said if the “project was successful in radio, it would be adapted to television.”
The suit notes that “Endemol’s ‘Big Brother’ displays sexual acts on its program, while VoyeurDorm maintains a complete prohibition on the broadcasting of sexual acts. Ironically, Infinity withdrew from its commitment to (VoyeurDorm.com) on the alleged grounds that Plaintiffs derived some of its revenue by handling content on behalf of companies engaged in the adult entertainment industry, and being entangled with Plaintiffs would be damaging to CBS’ public image.”
Entertainment Network is a leading supplier of content for the Internet, operating dozens of sites, including VoyeurDorm.com and DudeDorm.com. In addition to Web sites that reach consumers directly, Entertainment Network acts as a wholesaler by creating live streaming content and by hosting sites for entrepreneurs and organizations throughout the world.
