Harry Keane filed the suit -- which alleges copyright and trademark infringement and misappropriation of his work -- in U.S. District Court Wednesday, said his lawyer, Ryan Bormaster.

In the suit, Keane seeks a temporary restraining order against the program and its assets, and asks that it stop airing immediately.

Next week is the final week of competition in the second season of "American Idol," which is now down to two contestants, Clay Aiken, 24, of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Ruben Studdard, 25, of Birmingham, Alabama.

Also named in the suit are two production companies involved in the show, 19TV and Freemantle Media; the show's creator, Simon Fuller; and Simon Cowell, the prickly judge whose record label gives a recording contract to the winner.

Keane's suit alleges that he came up with the idea for a show called "American Idol" in 1994 when he lived in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Bormaster said his client's proposals for the program included the entire production from concept to broadcast, including the initial national auditions of talent to the final 13-week television series, where celebrity judges and the viewing audience would vote on the final 20 contestants each week.

The proposal also included a voting system with viewers casting their ballots by telephone or the Internet.

The lawsuit says Keane applied for a copyright on the concept and even the stage design for his show in 1997, and then began sending out his proposals to investors and producers.

Bormaster said one of those proposals was sent to Fuller's company, Freemantle Media North America, Inc., and Thames Television, a Freemantle subsidiary.

The suit claims that Thames Television, under the guidance of Fuller and Cowell, produced the program in England in 2001, calling it "Pop Idol."

The show began on the Fox network in the United States in the summer of 2002, with the name "American Idol."

Bormaster said Keane didn't file the suit earlier because he wasn't aware of the show in Britain, and after the American version came out, he had to get his paperwork in order.

"He was moving around and didn't have his papers together," the attorney said of Keane, who now lives in Irving, Texas.

"When he saw the show... he saw his work on air," Bormaster said.

Fox and Freemantle Media did not immediately return calls for comment.

-- CNN's Karen Bonsignore contributed to this report.

Finally. I sure hope this guy wins and American Idol goes off the air, along with it's spin-off American Juniors. Despite the fact that one of the finalists (Clay) is from my home state, I hate the concept as done by Simon and Simon. I'm sure Mr. Keane's concept would have had the contestants doing either their own songs or songs people 25 and younger have actually heard of.

yeah right. I believe this. HA! All reality tv are rippoffs of other shows anyway. He'll never win. The show is just too popular. Why now? Why not when it first aired?

Remember star search? Samething. Hmm, wonder if I can go to court and say that I came up with these ideas and sue? lol.

Right now, the only thing this suit will do is take money away from the companies behind the RIAA, regardless if he wins or not. There are legal fees.
Sounds good.

This guys BULLSHIT. If it really was his show he would have created a MASSIVE stink before now. I know I would have! "moving around"? BULL SHIT! NiceGuy2003, you really are too naive...

Someones hopeing for an out-of-court settlement Not going to happen.

how many ridiculous lawsuits does it take to make a judge laugh? just one, this one.

These shows are BUllshit I auditioned for Nashville Star in Charlotte NC and I didn't get picked and I sing better than any of the contestants including Buddy Jewel.I thought the contest when I went was gonna be more like American Idol where you have four experienced judges,but it was a radio personality a newspaper editor and some lady who was over Regal Cinema In Charlotte.We had to go on stage in front of 800 people who were mostly there with the contestants and sing a pre selected song for 30 secs accapela. I didn't get to do my original Material or have any music which wasn't my problem. You see this was the first round ther second round had the real producers judging.They picked 35 out of 284 of us and most of them were either from Charlotte NC or other parts of North Carolina and what I didn't get was they were all sound alikes they sounded like the artists they were singing. I had no competition and If I had gotten picked I found out later out of all the contestants I was the only one who had an original song to sing for regionals. So i would have made it at least to regionals. I drove 6 hours for that Bullshit too. http://millerdmusiccom.dmusic.com Here is my music you be the Judge and let me know!

Actually, the whole "AmericanIdolStarSearch" thing is derivative -- not just from this suit that was filed, but from WAAAAY back . . . does anyone who frequents this site -- ANYone -- remember the days of the "Original Amateur Hour" (both TV and radio) and "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts"? And, in Britain, such mainstays as "Opportunity Knocks" and "New Faces"? I'm surprised the heirs who presumably would control the rights to those respective programs today haven't filed suit on THAT basis.

Like I said, these reality shows or whatever you want to call them are rippoffs of other shows. This guy will have to go to great lengths to prove his claim. Talent shows are nothing new, hell remember The Gong Show? I can name a dozen or so shows just like American Idol. They never pick the REAL talent anyway. It's all a setup from the get go.

Everyone claims they originally had the idea.

Even Howard Stern claimede they stole some of his ideas for reality shows.

*shrugs*

American Idol and the like are just Hype and Fluff intended to snare the easily entertained. It is sad that the contest show is so popular. I'm disappointed that the viewing audience doesn't see how contrived the whole concept is. They are all great singers, but what about all the bands and artists that already have their own material and are working hard in the trenches with almost no recognition?

We are supposed to be impressed by some canned off the shelf career offer for some amateur singers? It doesn't shed a nice light on the industry. It shows that with the right kind of promotion we can make almost anybody wildly popular.

But what do I know, obviously a great number of people really enjoy it. That is their choice. I don't care for it at all. The horrible auditions are quite amusing though, but that doesn't last too long.

I don't care whether or not it was really his idea, I'd just like to see him win so they'd stop airing this ridiculously bad and unentertaining shit. What happened to quality television? It went the way of quality music.

Does anyone really understand why there is so muc reality TV?

Here goes:

Money.

A show like friends cost over $1 Million per actor! That's 6 million in talent. Add on production costs and you've got one expensive show. Over the course of a season that could grow to the tune of more than $200 million.

A show like Survivor - Relatively low production costs, only a $1 million dollar payout at the end and you've hooked viewers as efficiently as a soap opera. Each season is slightly different due to venue and contestants, but the concept remains the same.

If you were a network and wanted to strengthen your viewership and bottom line, what would you choose? The idealistic people would say quality TV but then again that's why they aren't the CEO's and such of these companies. The realistic people will go after what's makes the most economical and business sense.

Deep