Previous Survivor participant Gervase Peterson filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Ken Goldin, Goldin Auctions, and Netflix that claimed the show’s creators were the stooges of a reality show about Goldin and his team acquiring and selling sports memorabilia, but a federal judge on Monday dismissed the case.
Judge Christine O’Hearn of New Jersey’s federal district court ruled the copyright law doctrine of scènes à faire makes the reality show King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch ( KOC ) unprotectable.
In 2019, Sportico and other people wrote the script and screenplay for The Goldin Boys, as Sportico explained when Peterson filed his lawsuit last season. The show concept envisioned Goldin—a world leader in collectibles who has sold more than$ 1.3 billion in memorabilia—and his staff acquiring and selling memorabilia. The present imagined a function on Jackie Robinson’s deals. Peterson’s class says they pitched the idea to Goldin.

The project did n’t advance. Goldin after teamed up with Netflix to create KOC, which features Goldin and a higher- standing employee, Dave Amerman, interviewing several sports celebrities. The present, which has included a section on Robinson’s deals, has been renewed for a second time.
Essential to the situation is scènes à fair, which is French for “scenes that must be done”. This constitutional theory states that normally speaking, stories and plots cannot be copyrighted into a set and tangible form of expression. They are frequently used and needed to inform a specific story, which is the fundamental logic.
Consider concepts for a movie or television program about a home that lives in a haunted house, creatures who invade Earth, or a World War II film. They ca n’t be “owned” in a copyright sense. They’re frequently used and recycled story products that are required for some expressions that are expressed in entertainment products.
O’Hearn emphasized that courts “routinely” reject claims of copyright infringement over reality TV shows that are often found to become riddled with unprotectable ideas and scenes à faire. She cited reality TV shows featuring dance contests, arranged marriages between strangers, sport contests and also former President Donald Trump hosting a” business- themed” show. Because the participant matters were unprotectable, courts ruled against the defendants in those cases.
To that point, the prosecutor said KOC fits within images à fair.
It’s difficult to imagine two characters in a reality show about a business who would n’t be more important than the business’s founder and key employee, according to her. O’Hearn continued,” judges frequently discover that real people may be copied.”
The judge even rejected Peterson’s reasoning that Amerman as the “affable next- in- control foil” is protectable. She noted the “right- palm- man” figure is “generic design” in entertainment and that casting a genuine person on a show is outside the scope of protection. O’Hearn added that” may be copyrighted” is the “general concept” of a show where celebrity athletes discuss their own lives and collectibles. Those “elements” are universal and investment when used in a sports- themed real show.

Peterson can appeal O’Hearn’s ruling to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
As for Goldin, he issued a statement expressing gratitude” that we have been 100 % vindicated”. He said the ruling” speaks for itself” in that KOC “is based on my business, my life, and all the individuals who play a role in making it all possible”.
With his show getting renewed for a second season, Goldin says he wants to “introduce millions of people to our world of collectibles.”