UCLA Entertainment Law Review

Reality television is an incredibly successful genre of entertainment. Reality TV has had enormous ratings success beginning in the early 2000s, and its influence (and revenues) are only likely to increase. Given the value of these properties, an important issue for reality TV creators and producers is the degree to which intellectual property protection is available to stop competitors from appropriating the content of reality programming. This Article first documents the rise of the reality genre. It then explores both copyright and trademark jurisprudence affecting reality plaintiffs and offers original analysis of this important aspect of intellectual property law.