SHORT TAKES : MTV Sued Over Game Show Idea

“I want my MTV royalties,” says a 39-year-old man who claims in a federal lawsuit that the music television network stole his copyrighted idea for a rock ‘n’ roll game show.

Mark Winik, who runs a printing supply company, is suing MTV and its parent company, Viacom Inc., over the network’s 3-year-old game show “Remote Control” and a show that debuted this year called “Turn It Up.”

The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court, contends that Winik developed an idea in 1985 for a game show called “Rockout.” He copyrighted the concept and tried to sell it to MTV in 1986, but the music network rejected his proposal, the suit said.