‘Little Couple’ Stars Take a Hit in Major Legal Battle

The Little Couple just suffered a major blow in an copyright claim they’ve made towards their TLC show.

Dr. Jen Arnold and husband Bill Klein have alleged that they are victims of fraud when it comes to intellectual property related to their show amid an 18-month legal battle between Discovery Communications and LMNO, one of its programming producers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The two have alleged they were robbed of contingent compensation from their series due to fraudulent accounting, asking to rescind their 2008 contract and recover their rights to the show.

The couple applied for a temporary restraining order, the publication reported, to prevent the transfer of their show’s intellectual property rights

“With a dismissal by LMNO, Discovery will no longer be a party to this litigation,” stated the couple’s application. “LMNO will then face trial by [Klein and Arnold] but will be left holding an empty bag, with nothing left for Plaintiff-Intervenors to recover.”

But U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt wasn’t inclined to grant their request, who on Thursday rejected their claim, finding that Klein and Arnold were unlikely to succeed with their claim that they own certain intellectual property rights for their show.

“As Discovery concedes in its opposition, it is not disputed that Intervenors’ contribution to The Little Couple is critically important to the success of the program,’ nor is it disputed that ‘they should be fairly compensated’ for the work they did,” Kronstadt wrote. “That a party may be entitled to such compensation does not provide a basis to establish the ownership of a copyright in the program. Intervenors have submitted no evidence to support the claim that they actually ‘translate[d]’ their performances ‘into a fixed, tangible expression,’ which is one required element of a viable copyright claim.”

Klein and Arnold “have alleged that LMNO engaged in a fraudulent scheme to misstate the licensing and other revenues associated with the Program,” Kronstadt continued. “They also allege that LMNO did so as part of its actions designed to withhold from Intervenors the funds to which they were allegedly entitled under the 2008 Option Agreement. Although these allegations are sufficient to state a claim for breach of contract, they are insufficient to establish that the relevant contracts were fraudulently induced to support a claim for rescission.”

With this, Kronstadt will allow LMNO and Discovery to create a settlement agreement transferring their intellectual property rights and The Little Couple stars can still pursue LMNO for monetary damages or Discovery.

Photo credit: Instagram / @jenarnoldmd