Saturday, May 26, 2018

Sesame Workshop asserts trademark violations in marketing of the movie "The Happytime Murders"


In a post titled Sesame Workshop Sues Over ‘Happytime Murders’ Trailer Featuring ‘Ejaculating Puppets’ , SFGate
discusses some of the story involved in a trademark/tarnishment lawsuit over the use of the word "Sesame" in a movie trailer
for the movie "The Happytime Murders."

The crux of the issue involves the marketing of the movie; from SFGate:


In a statement provided to TheWrap on Friday [25 May 2018], Sesame Workshop said that
they “take no issue with the creative freedom of the filmmakers and their right to make and promote this movie,
rather this is about how our name is being misused to market a film with which we have no association.”



Variety noted the following from the lawsuit:


" ‘Sesame’ is not trying to enjoin defendants’ promotion or distribution of their movie.
It is only defendants’ deliberate choice to invoke and commercially misappropriate ‘Sesame’s’ name and goodwill
in marketing the movie — and thereby cause consumers to conclude that ‘Sesame’
is somehow associated with the movie — that has infringed on and tarnished the ‘Sesame Street’ mark and goodwill.”

Filed in New York [on 24 May 2018], the lawsuit also contains screen captures of social media reactions.
One tweet read, “I’ll never look at muppets/sesame street the same way.”
According to the suit, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the television show,
sent a letter on May 18 to in-house counsel of STX and the Jim Henson Company,
which is a producer on the film, demanding they stop making references to “Sesame Street” in the marketing materials.



[emphasis added. from ‘Sesame Street’ Creators Sue STX Entertainment Over Marketing for ‘The Happytime Murders’ ]


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Separately, from blawgsearch on 26 May 2018


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