Psychic claims network stole idea from unpublished book

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Celebrity psychic Uri Geller said Thursday he would try to take legal action to stop U.S. television station ABC going ahead with a "reality" show in which five couples compete to adopt a baby.

Geller claims the ABC "20/20" show is an exact rip-off of his yet-to-be published novel "Nobody's Child" which follows a reality TV game show where five couples compete to win a baby.

"I'm outraged and angry. I can't believe that such a show will go on," he told Reuters.

The Israeli-born spoon bender, who now lives in Britain, began his book in 2001, publishing chapters weekly on a subscription Internet Web site. It has not yet been printed.

At the same time, he ordered lawyers in the United States to take out a worldwide copyright ban to prevent any show being made in which people competed to win babies. He has a patent application pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

"I was afraid that an unscrupulous producer in TV reality land would steal the idea," he told Reuters.

"I will speak to my patent attorney -- I own the idea."

The ABC "20/20" show, titled "Be My Baby," which is due to be broadcast Friday night, follows pregnant 16-year-old Jessica as she goes through the adoption process, whittling down prospective candidates to five couples.

The program shows Jessica interviewing all five as they try to convince her they would make the best parents for her unborn son.

Geller said he was friends with the show's host Barbara Walters and was puzzled why she had decided to do it.

Walters admitted on the program's Web site that the show's publicity might have given people the wrong impression.

"Some of that may be due to overly zealous promotion on our part; frankly, some of our initial on-air promos went a little over the top," she said.

"For the record, we should say that '20/20' simply reports what happened: we did not choose the participants nor exert any influence on what they did. This is not one of those scripted 'reality shows' -- it IS reality!"

Geller shot to fame in the 1970s with his apparently science-defying psychic powers and maintains a high profile in Britain with television appearances and a newspaper column.

He counts embattled pop star Michael Jackson, who is facing trial over child molestation charges, as a personal friend.