Wragges’ Glee over High Court win

BIRMINGHAM law firm Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co has won a second High Court battle against media giant Twentieth Century Fox over the use of the name Glee.

In the latest round of a long-running legal saga deputy High Court judge Roger Wyand rejected arguments from Twentieth Century Fox that it would be “catastrophic” to uphold an injunction against the company, but stayed the ruling pending the outcome of a Court of Appeal hearing.

Wragges is representing Comic Enterprises which runs a number of comedy venues under the Glee Club name. The first Glee Club was opened by Mark Tughan in Birmingham’s Arcadian Centre.

Twentieth Century Fox is the company behind the successful TV series Glee and in February this year Wragges won a High Court ruling that the film and TV company had infringed Comic Enterprises’ trademark

Twentieth Century Fox instructed law firm Simmons & Simmons, and through it an intellectual property law specialist at 11 South Square, to challenge that ruling.

It was argued that to grant an injunction against Twentieth Century Fox would be “both disproportionate and futile” but the High Court judge rejected that argument saying that an injunction is necessary to protect the claimant’s intellectual property.

Unless that decision is overturned at a Court of Appeal hearing, it is likely that Twentieth Century Fox will have to re-name the programme.

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