a younger Kent couple, to be involved in Clark's life and help him on his journey. Chloe Sullivan (another character created for the series) was considered the "outsider" the show needed to ensure that someone would notice the strange happenings in Smallville rather than a "precursor to Lois Lane". Smallville has been described by Warner Bros. as a from-the-roots reinterpretation of Superman mythology. Since the November 2004 reacquisition of Superboy by the Siegel family, a copyright infringement dispute has arisen over ownership of the fictional town of Smallville and a claimed similarity between Superboy and Smallvilles Clark Kent. According to the Siegel heirs, "Smallville is part of the Superboy copyright" (which they hold). Crew changes In April 2008, after seven seasons with the series, Gough and Millar left Smallville. The developers thanked the cast and crew for their work, acknowledging that they never stopped fighting for what they saw as "their vision" of the show. The reason for their departure was not provided. Gough and Millar were replaced as showrunners by Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer, Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson. All began writing for the series at the start of the second season, and were executive producers by the seventh season. In 2009, after one season, Swimmer and Slavkin took over the new CW series Melrose Place and did not return for Smallvilles ninth season; Souders and Peterson would continue as showrunners. Tom Welling became co-executive producer of the series that July. In March 2010, Millar, Gough and co-producer Tollin/Robins Productions filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and The CW charging that Hollywood's "vertical integration" cost Millar and Gough millions of dollars. The suit claimed that Warner Bros. failed to "maximize profits" in marketing Smallville, misrepresented production costs and sold the show to foreign markets at "well below the value of the series", not specifying the amount of compensation sought by the plaintiffs. The lawsuit ended with an undisclosed settlement in May 2013. Tom Welling was appointed an executive producer for Smallvilles tenth season in May 2010. Filming The series was filmed at BB Studios in Burnaby, British Columbia. Although production was initially planned for Australia, Vancouver had more of a "Middle America landscape". The city provided a site for the Kent farm, doubled for Metropolis, provided a cheaper shooting location and was in the Los Angeles time zone. Smallville's Main Street is a combination of two locations in the