Andrew Longstreth of The American Lawyer reports on the lawsuit filed by the bankruptcy estate of Trans Continental (previously run by Lou Pearlman, the former music manager now in jail for organizing a Ponzi scheme) against MTV, Viacom and Bad Boy (both the recording and film production units).

In short, the estate alleges that MTV, Viacom and Bad Boy worked together to strip Trans Continental of its rights in the "Making the Band" television series, which originally featured Pearlman at the helm, similar to the manner in which Diddy would lead the series from "Making the Band 2" and on.

They claim that they have rights and a financial interest in not only "Making the Band," but also "Making the Band 2," "3" and "4," as well as "Making His Band" (which found Diddy building a live band for his tour). In addition, they insist upon rights to "There & Back" (an MTV reality show featuring former O-Town member Ashley Parker Angel), "Taquita & Kaui" (the very short-lived reality show featuring a pair of "Making the Band 3" contestants) and even the untitled reality show said to feature Dawn Richard and Qwanell "Que" Mosley, as supposed spin-offs of the main series.

The estate further claims that they are due no less than $60 million dollars. Longstreth says that, according to the complaint, MTV alleges that they did not make any money after the first two seasons (presumably, of "Making the Band," the first in the series).

One interesting note for fans of the series: Trans Continental claims that Bad Boy has refused to permit the release of DVDs or home videos of the series.

The full complaints can be found in the Law.com article.