*Nick Cannon is facing a high-profile legal battle over his new show “Bad vs. Wild.”
A federal judge has greenlit Viacom’s trademark infringement lawsuit against Zeus Network, refusing to dismiss the case tied to the streaming series, All Hip Hop reports. Viacom, the parent company of MTV and VH1, claims the Zeus Network production is a deliberate imitation of “Wild ‘N Out,” the hip-hop comedy battle series that has anchored both networks for well over twenty years.
Viacom’s attorneys argued that Zeus systematically replicated the show’s winning recipe and dressed it up with a new title to pass it off as something fresh. The judge drew a clear line between the two legal theories at play. Copyright protection for a broadly structured TV format was deemed too sweeping a standard to hold up in court, but the trademark claims were another matter entirely.
The court found that Viacom had mounted a persuasive enough argument that the visual and textual similarities between the two properties could plausibly mislead casual viewers into connecting “Bad vs. Wild” with the established MTV brand.
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“In an era where original content is at a premium, Zeus has chosen the path of least resistance: stealing the fruits of Viacom’s goodwill and decades of labor and innovation, and pawning it off as its own original idea for its own financial gain,” Viacom’s lawyers wrote in its lawsuit last year, per Billboard.
Zeus Network attorney Jonathan D. Goins told the publication that his client stands firmly behind its work and anticipates a favorable outcome whenever the matter is fully adjudicated.
“With respect to the remaining trademark-related claims, Zeus is confident that when all the evidence is heard, we will prevail on summary judgment, or if necessary, at trial. Zeus has done nothing wrong and we will continue to fight Viacom’s misguided accusations,” Goins said in a statement.
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