My knowledge of law and patents never got past reruns of L.A. Law, so I have no idea if this guy from New Jersey has a case or not.
The gentleman claims that he approached reps from Merv Griffin's company back in 2001 and pitched them the idea for a game show based on crossword puzzles. He says he even came up with the idea of the game's "twist" where you can take the other person's spot. He also patented the game. Now he has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that says Merv's company took his idea and made the syndicated game show Merv Griffin's Crosswords (a show that I've tried and tried to get into but haven't been able to - though "Ty Treadway" is one of the great game show names of all-time though).
I remember reading an interview with Griffin where he said that he had been working on the idea for a crossword puzzle game show for years. Griffin, as you know, created Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-08-2008 @ 4:21PM
Adrienne said...
Who cares? Crosswords is the worst gameshow in the history of gameshows. It's horrible!
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5-08-2008 @ 11:18PM
Oreo said...
There are worst.
Have you seen Bingo America on GSN? Very bad. GSN also shows things like "Do you see it now?" and "Trivia Trap"and just so god awful things I can't remember.
However Crossword and Bingo America are the worst game shows on the air.
5-08-2008 @ 6:16PM
Europa said...
Man! Adrienne, you took, and typed, the words right out of my mouth. Who cares?!! Must be a slow news day for the squad.
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5-08-2008 @ 7:57PM
Tom WP said...
Necessary to mention that he's from New Jersey? I'm usually not sensitive to slights against my state but it seems like you're slyly using it to take away a bit of credibility from his argument, even if it wasn't a conscious decision.
It's easy to hear the phrase "this guy from New Jersey" and not take him seriously -- even though it sounds to me like he has a decent case. Would you have said "this guy from Connecticut?" I feel like sometimes people mention New Jersey in places where they otherwise would not name the home state because it personifies the subject negatively.
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5-08-2008 @ 8:02PM
lucyfan62 said...
I don't know why it took good old Merv so long to figure out a crossword show. One word - CROSSWITS. So Merv and the other guy took the crossword idea from that show and just tweaked how the contestants played. The CROSSWITS creator should sue them both!
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5-09-2008 @ 2:04AM
wcoghill said...
Lucy,
They might sue Merv's company, but not Merv...he's been dead for a year now :)
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