[Jack_]

Big Brother's Brian Belo reaches settlement with TOWIE bosses after claims they stole the idea from him

The reality star took legal action against ITV and Lime Pictures and has settled the case out of court, according to reports

Big Brother winner Brian Belo has reached a settlement with ITV and Lime Pictures, after taking legal action against the makers of TOWIE last March.

According to Broadcast, the case was due to be heard at the High Court today but a final attempt at negotiations saw all parties reach a settlement.

Belo, himself an Essex boy, claimed that the makers of the structured reality soap had adapted and reproduced part of a format he had originally developed with Sassy Films and Massive TV.

The trio said they took the idea to Lime Pictures in March and July 2009 and sent a tape and treatment to ITV in November 2009. The show launched on ITV2 in 2010.

They also highlighted a series of emails that they believe demonstrated ownership of the format.

A key part of ITV's defence was that the concept developed by Belo, Sassy and Massive - called Totally Essex - was not a “dramality” show like The Only Way is Essex, but a “fly on the wall documentary".

Source

Nice one Brian, glad he effectively won

[Samm]

Don't watch only way is Essex but I am glad Brian won the court case

[Marc]

lol Brian

[Gstar]

He RT'd this onto his twitter, lol he's so proud

[Jack_]

I would be too, they blatantly ripped his idea off

Who'd have thought Brian Belo would effectively win a dispute against ITV

[lostalex]

he prolly settled for just a pic with the cast and a free vajazzle.

[Matt]

The Sun reporting today that he's won a Ł1million payoff

Congratulations to him, well deserved. Can't quite believe he's kinda responsible for the recent trend of scripted reality television in the UK...

[Kizzy]

He was robbed if it was only 1M
His pilot had Mark Wright and Sam Faires in it, they didn't have a leg to stand on really.

[Headie]

But surely ITV will come off better as they'll probably make more than 1 million through TOWIE anyways.

He should get like a payment each series or something.

[Kizzy]

Yep he should have opted for a %, what about those who copied the format, GS or the valley?

[Jordan.]

How depressing to know this moron is now a millionaire

[Marsh.]

How is it a rip off when one is scripted reality and Belo's idea was just a Peter Andre style documentary?

Wouldn't that be like the makers of Big Brother suing I'm a Celeb, similar format but quite different.

Not to mention scripted reality shows came from America with crap like The Hills.

[Kizzy]

It is a coincidence if you make a pilot, pitch it to ITV then suddenly a show airs with half the cast and a similar name?
I agree it wasn't a totally original concept initially but there are a lot of comparisons to Brians pitch.
They have obviously conceded that.

[thesheriff443]

great to see brian win this!, not so stupid as people would make him out to be!.