A comedian has released an unusual documentary – which tells the story of his ‘David versus Goliath’ copyright battle against fashion retailer French Connection UK (FCUK).
Dave Griffiths, 47, has been fighting French Connection since the year 2000 when, shortly after a comedy gig in London, he received a formal letter from the fashion giant accusing him of infringing their copyright and trademark.
At the event, the comedian wore a t-shirt that read ‘King Cnut’ (the Danish spelling of the English king ‘Canute’) on the front and ‘French Correction’ on the back – much to the dismay of FCUK officials sitting in the audience.
The letter he subsequently received threatened him with criminal proceedings if he was seen wearing the offending item of clothing ever again.
But Mr Griffiths responded to threat in an unusual way.
“Instead of caving in, I turned the tables on them when I discovered that French Connection themselves were in fact breaching the copyright of some of the biggest brands in the world — including the Ford and Mars logos – and another KFC-inspired design,” he said.
“I saw them using other people’s designs and started calling round companies like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Durex and IBM to tell them I believed French Connection was infringing their copyright.
“Once the first company complained to French Connection, and that led to a withdrawal and apology, it became an obsession”.
The performer’s “obsession” quickly turned into a direct dispute after the fashion retailer released a clothing line closely resembling Mr Griffiths’ original ‘King Cnut’ t-shirts – the design of which had grown in popularity since his previous tour, C U In Court, where Dave sold them as merchandise.
“When that happened, I simply sent them the [same] legal letter they had first sent me,” he said.
The duo found themselves facing a lengthy legal battle, but eventually “the [French Connection version of the] t-shirt was pulled,” Mr Griffith’s said.
Following the dispute, Mr Griffith’s has released a documentary charting his misadventures with French Connection, entitled King Cnut.
The film is due to premiere at the Westminster Law School in coming weeks.