If this was court. I would have the contract in my hands and it wouldn't be hearsay at all. The consensus among attorneys is that A&E would not sign away their intellectual property. That is the stupidest notion ever. No competent company would do that. Ever. Assuming that A&E's attorneys have more than one brain cell, they are under at the very least a standard TV contract with a non competition covenant and a morals clause saying they can't go to any other network while they're under contract, they can get suspended if they do or say anything controversial for the network, and that A&E can do whatever they want with the show. If they do any of that while under contract, they can get sued. Big time. This isn't even debatable. You're not convincing me otherwise. Some of these other people might believe A&E has a team of incompetent attorneys, but I'm not that dumb. You don't become a major television network by hiring 4th graders as your legal squad. A&E owns duck dynasty. It's really that simple.
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