Gujarat stand-up comedian wins trademark suit

VADODARA: A stand-up comedian from Gujarat showed a national television channel why fun and funny are totally different. Manan Desai, who performs shows under the name ‘The Comedy Factory’ and has been entertaining the audiences for over a decade, won a trademark case which he had filed in Bombay high court against the channel and the producer of a show who was using a similar name for their upcoming comedy show.
Thirty-three-year-old Desai had first sent a legal notice to the channel in June after he learnt that they were to launch a show ‘The Comedy Factory’.
“I contacted the show’s producers and informed them about the similarity between mine and their comedy show’s name. I requested them to change the name of their show. But the channel kept promoting their show with the same name on social media,” Desai, a resident of Vadodara, said.
“So, I filed a suit in Bombay high court stating that they cannot use the title ‘The Comedy Factory’ as I have got that name registered under trademark laws. While it is against the laws to use the same title or name, it even creates confusion in the minds of audiences,” Desai told TOI. He further said that he has been performing under The Comedy Factory title since 2011.
Advocate Yash Suryawala, an expert in intellectual property rights (IPR) who issued the legal notice, stated that the channel used the name The Comedy Factory for capitalizing on the goodwill associated with Desai’s title.
“They first agreed to change the name and prefix their channel’s name in the title. But we objected and said that they cannot use the name Comedy Factory at all,” Desai, who co-founded The Comedy Factory with Vidya Desai, added.
“We had two hearings about the trademark suit in the court. The defendants agreed to change the name of their upcoming show completely following which the high court asked them on Tuesday to file an affidavit that they won’t use the title The Comedy Factory now or even in the future,” said Ayush Agarwala, advocate who represented Desai in Bombay high court.
“The court has also imposed Rs 2 lakh as the cost of litigation that the defendant has to pay to the plaintiff and the suit has been disposed of,” Agarwala said.