post Monday August 20, 2012
20th Century Fox has denied claims its TV show, Glee, breaches the trademark of a British comedy club, according to legal papers filed at the high court in London. The owner of Birmingham comedy club, Glee, said he will expose the “hypocrisy” of Rupert Murdoch (owner of Hollywood film studio) when a multi-million pound trademark battle gets to court.
Mark Tughan, who launched Glee Club almost 20 years ago, is suing the media mogul’s 20th Century Fox after accusing it of infringing his trademark with the hit TV show Glee. He wants 20th Century Fox to pay him a seven figure sum in damages.
Mark Tughan formally registered “The Glee Club” in the UK for merchandise and entertainment services in 2001 and renewed it in 2009 prior to the pilot episode of Glee coming out. The name had been registered for 8 years before the first episode of Glee aired on US television. He launched its legal proceedings last year, but the judge has now passed the case up to the High Court. Mr. Tughan said “Ultimately this is a case that will be decided on in law but we have a situation where Rupert Murdoch tweets about people stealing his content and what he is talking about is his intellectual property. I will say that it is hypocritical as this is exactly what he has been doing in this case.”
20th Century Fox is fighting the legal claim. Documents received by the high court in London on June 14, and seen by MediaGuardian, show that the studio will continue airing the popular series in the UK on Sky1.
Sources: The Guardian & The Birmingham Post
Image courtesy of morgueFile
