The major American film studio Twentieth Century Fox is reportedly facing a lawsuit from a comedy club chain based in the UK over the rights to the name ‘Glee’.
Comic Enterprises Ltd, which owns four The Glee Club venues in Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham and Oxford, is in the process of suing 20th Century Fox over its smash hit TV show Glee. The comedy chain is claiming that it owns the rights to the name, and that the film studio is infringing on its trademark rights by using it.
Although it is not clear whether Comic Enterprises Ltd is seeking any damages from the film studio, which is more than likely to have professional indemnity insurance in place to cover any costs resulting from the case, but it is seeking an injunction.
This could mean that if the comedy club company is successful in its lawsuit, the Glee TV show could be forced off the air. Lawyers for Fox have reportedly commented that this would be “potentially catastrophic”.
Head of the comedy chain company Mark Tughan said that he waited to file the lawsuit until he could measure the popularity of the show in the UK.