Conan Stands Up to NBC Over Property Rights

NBC may have the peacock logo, but Conan O'Brien is the one ruffling feathers. With his jump to TBS for his new show Conan, O'Brien has found himself in the same predicament as his Late Night predecessor, David Letterman, with a potential battle over intellectual property on his hands. O'Brien has come out against NBC, saying he is intent on reclaiming many of his former bits and characters by hook or by crook, and if NBC has any problems with that, they can just take him to court.

"If there's something we did for a long time that we've established as ours, we'll figure out a way to do it," O'Brien said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "I won't be denied my Masturbating Bear!"

Read our open letter to Conan about what we want to see on his new show

Conan added that he'd love for the battle to be dragged out in court, where he'd inevitably introduce the bear as evidence. "What I really wanna do is be sued over the bear and then appear in court with the Masturbating Bear," O'Brien said. "'Your Honor, this bear can't help himself!'"

Letterman found himself at odds with NBC when he made the jump to CBS in 1993. He eventually was granted permission to retain many of his signature bits, such as the daily Top Ten List. Meanwhile, NBC had also initially claimed to own the intellectual property stemming from Conan's tenure on Late Night as well as his short stint on The Tonight Show. However, in recent months reports have surfaced that the network was willing to "let bygones be bygones" and forgo litigation over any such property, perhaps remembering the bad blood left over from the Letterman debacle nearly two decades earlier.

Conan premieres on TBS on Monday, November 8th at 11 pm EST.

Image used with permission by Michael Buckner / Getty Images

Justin Starling (@CitadelNow) for Citadel Digital © 2010