GSN Sued by Ultimate Blackjack Tour

LOS ANGELES, August 10:
Ultimate Blackjack Tour, the entertainment company whose eponymous TV series
debuts on CBS Sports this fall, has filed suit against cable network GSN over
its show World Series of Blackjack
for “breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust
enrichment.”

Filed August 8 in L.A.
Superior Court, the suit requests an injunction against GSN from airing World
Series. The suit also includes a
request for monetary damages. UBT contends in the complaint that it presented
its format for “elimination blackjack,” which involves elimination rounds and
secret bets, to GSN in two 2005 meetings. The company says it invited GSN to
partner on a television program—an offer which was turned down—and,
the suit alleges, the network went on to misappropriate UBT’s ideas and
incorporate them into a new version of the series World Series of Blackjack.

CBS’s two-season
commitment to UBT kicks off on September 16 with the premiere of the series Ultimate
Blackjack Tour, airing on Saturday
afternoons.