No organisation is so big that it cannot be brought to heel by copyright laws, if the ‘David and Goliath’ battle between 20th Century Fox and a small chain of comedy clubs in the UK is anything to go by.
Last week a High Court judge ruled that 20th Century Fox had infringed the trademark of the British chain and that the confusion over the name could have “put off” customers.
The name in question is The Glee Club, which is a comedy business with clubs in Birmingham, Oxford, Nottingham and Cardiff, owned by an organisation called Comic Enterprises, which first brought a case against 20th Century Fox for the use of the phrase The Glee Club in its hit show Glee in 2011, which was contested.
However, according to Roger Wyand QC, the clubs have a “distinctive” character and 20th Century Fox had no “objective justification” for trademark infringements likely to cause confusion.
Following the ruling, the use of the name for the TV show could be in jeopardy, as the judge added that “the damage suffered by Comic Enterprises is caused by its venues being confused with the TV show”, so the studio’s continued use of the Glee title “cannot be in accordance with honest practices in industrial and commercial matters”.
However, he said that he was not convinced that such confusion was sufficiently likely to be said to cause damage to Comic Enterprises, so failed the passing-off case.
The chain’s owner said that he felt vindicated by the ruling and added that smaller independent businesses should take heart from the decision, as it clearly shows that trademark infringements by large multi-national companies can be effectively challenged in British courts.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the clubs said that the TV show could now be taken off air in the UK and TV merchandise and DVDs could be removed from UK shops and music downloads.