The Bachelor Sends Cease & Desist to Chris Harrison’s New Dating Show

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The team behind The Bachelor is not handing out a rose this time.

Ahead of the release of Chris Harrison’s new Fox Nation dating show The Vow, Warner Bros. Television—which produces the Bachelor Nation franchises—sent Fox News Media and Lionsgate a legal warning over their new series’ promotional material featuring roses.

In their Sept. 18 cease and desist letter, obtained by E! News, WBTV wrote, “Red roses are, of course, one of the central and instantly recognizable symbols of the Franchise, and this image from the Series teaser is plainly a direct copy of numerous Franchise promotional materials.”

The company added, “Taken together, the above represents a plain attempt to capitalize on and ‘ride on the coattails’ of WB’s instantly recognizable intellectual property.”

In a Sept. 16 teaser trailer for The Vow, rose petals shower down across the screen as a man, whose face remains concealed, shows off his rose cufflinks. Then, after the words “The Bachelor. The Women. The Drama,” appear on screen, Harrison is revealed. 

After he tosses a rose on the ground, he says, “Expecting someone else? Roses fade. True love lasts forever.”

While WBTV requested that Fox Nation and Lionsgate “cease and desist from all infringing conduct,” the organization emphasized it did not take issue with the existence of a new dating show hosted by Harrison. 

Craig Sjodin via Getty Images

“But thus far, Fox and Lionsgate have promoted the Series entirely on the back of the Franchise,” the letter added, “not on its own merits.”

For their part, Fox Nation retorted with their own letter, refuting the claims made by the team behind The Bachelor.

“While FOX Nation respects the intellectual property rights of others,” the Sept. 24 letter, obtained by E! News, reads, “you wrongly assume that Warner Bros. holds any rights whatsoever in a falling roses motif or in the words ‘The Bachelor’ when used colloquially to describe a single man.”

Fox emphasized that “falling rose petals are scènes à faire—stock elements long associated with the romance genre that have featured in films from American Beauty to Moulin Rouge to Beauty and the Beast.”

So, as they see it, “Warner Bros. cannot keep for itself a trope it has borrowed from others.” 

Craig Sjodin via Getty Images

Fox doubled down on their ability to use the imagery, too, noting, “Even assuming you have any claim at all in the rose petals motif—which you plainly do not—FOX Nation’s use qualifies as a fair one under the copyright laws because the trailer subverts and parodies typical dating shows.”

After all, Fox described its trailer for The Vow as offering “a different approach” from other dating shows by “placing the focus on meaningful relationships, commitment and building a life together.”

The company also framed WBTV’s legal move as an attempt to zero in on Harrison, who had hosted The Bachelor and its spinoff series since it began in 2002, but he left the franchise in 2021 amid his controversial comments defending resurfaced photos of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, which many saw as racially insensitive.

“Your letter appears designed not to vindicate legitimate copyright and trademark interests, but to restrict FOX Nation and Chris Harrison from promoting a competing dating show,” Fox stated. “It is unfortunate that Warner Bros. is targeting Mr. Harrison in this malicious and vindictive manner.”

In conclusion, Fox wrote, “The Vow exhorts its participants and viewers to ‘Choose Love.’ We trust Warner Bros. will do the same and drop its pursuit of these meritless claims.” 

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