A veteran TV producer is suing network ABC, insisting the channel used his ideas and storyline for hit series Lost.
Anthony Spinner, who has produced and written hundreds of TV episodes since the 1960s, claims he offered the network a pilot based on an aeroplane crash-landing in the jungle three times, only to be knocked back on each occasion.
Spinner alleges he presented ABC with the show's format in 1977, 1991 and 1994.
In the suit filed in Los Angeles on 10 July (09), Spinner insists his idea was then plagiarised, and the network went on to create a carbon copy of his idea with Touchstone in 2004, which eventually became the popular show.
Spinner, who has tried to sue ABC before over the alleged rip-off, is seeking damages and a cut of the royalties and profits from the long-running series.