After Warner Bros. hit The Vow with a cease-and-desist earlier this month, Chris Harrison has addressed the legal drama.
The former Bachelor Nation host, whose new dating show premieres Nov. 11 on Fox Nation, said it felt “personal” after Warner Bros’ recent letter accusing the reality show of copyright and trademark infringement in a teaser released last month.
“I don’t see them going after the 50, 60, 70 other relationship dating shows that have come on in the time that I was there or since I left,” Harrison told USA Today. “There’s been one show that they’ve gone after. Is that a coincidence? You be the judge.”
In the letter, Ahassim Rashid, VP and intellectual property counsel for Warner Bros Entertainment, called out the alleged unauthorized use of the studio’s IP in the teaser, citing images of red rose petals “falling in the background with text in the foreground,” noting that WB had licensed that motif to third parties for separate advertisements and promotion.
Rashid also objected to the use of the words “The Bachelor” in the teaser, followed by the image of a man in a tux holding a rose. Also cited was the image of a “mansion in the background meant to evoke the iconic ‘Bachelor Mansion.’”
The letter added that the teaser “represents a plain attempt to capitalize on and ‘ride on the coattails’” of The Bachelor.
In response, Fox News Media’s executive VP and general counsel Katherine Moran Meeks contended that Warner Bros’ attorneys “wrongly assume that Warner Bros. holds any intellectual property rights whatsoever in a falling roses motif or in the words ‘The Bachelor’ when used colloquially to describe a single man.”
Harrison’s upcoming dating show comes after he parted ways with the Bachelor franchise in June 2021, following his support for a contestant amid controversy over a racist photo she previously posted.
