Did MTV Steal the 'Jersey Shore' Concept?

MTV executives could be headed toward a courtroom battle over "Jersey Shore."

According to TMZ, Bruce Hulse filed a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit earlier this month claiming that MTV never paid him his due after he served up the idea that eventually became a signature cash-cow.

Hulse's filing alleges that he and other members of his production Krasnow Production, Inc. production company pitched the cable network's executives a show about "stereotypical young men and women from New Jersey who were spending their summer in and around the New Jersey shore beaches and cities."

The filing claims that the trailer KPI produced even included the name "Jersey Shore."

Hulse must've been pleased when executives seemed keen and promised a payment if they went ahead with the idea. Unfortunately, Hulse claims, he never received a dime before or after "Jersey Shore" made its 2009 debut. He's now seeking unspecified damages for breach of implied contract and breach of confidence. MTV didn't return TMZ's requests for comment.

Curiously, the document states that the suit not only includes MTV Networks, Inc., but "DOES 1 through 100." The filing specifically states Hulse does not know their legal names, and therefore sues them as "fictitious names." You have to wonder who those 100 "DOES" includes.

Is Hulse suing crew members and producers who were blissfully unaware that MTV might've green-lit a project without paying the person who innovated it? Might this suit actually include cast members? Should Snooki be worried? Does The Situation have yet another situation on his hands?

And more interestingly still . . . how do you suppose Hulse feels every time Beavis and Butt-Head mock his baby?